Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office

Hassan Mushaima

Kenny MacAskill: To ask the Minister of State, Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office, if he will make representations to his counterparts in Bahrain for (a) the unconditional release of Hassan Mushaima and (b) his access to medical (i) care and (ii) records.

David Rutley: The FCDO continues to follow and discuss the case of Hasan Mushaima with the Government of Bahrain and oversight bodies. Bahrain is clear that access to medical care for those in detention is guaranteed and is provided as needed. We also encourage those with specific concerns to raise them directly with the appropriate Bahraini oversight body.

Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office: Employment Tribunals Service

Dr Matthew Offord: To ask the Minister of State, Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office, how many employment tribunals were brought by employees of their Department in the last 12 months.

David Rutley: Two employment tribunal cases have been brought against the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office in the last 12 months.Details of all employment tribunal decision outcomes are available on GOV.UK: https://www.gov.uk/employment-tribunal-decisions

Falkland Islands: Bank Services

Alexander Stafford: To ask the Minister of State, Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office, if he will make an assessment of the adequacy of access to modern banking services on the Falkland Islands.

David Rutley: Banking services on the Falkland Islands are regulated by the Falkland Islands Government as a self-governing UK Overseas Territory. Standard Chartered offer the only on-island retail banking option via their branch in Stanley, alongside other providers who offer other online financial services such as Square and Wise. The FCDO are working with other UK Government departments to ascertain how to ensure UK retail banking services are kept available to residents in the UK Overseas Territories.

Cyprus: Overseas Trade

Naz Shah: To ask the Minister of State, Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office, what steps he is taking to help ensure direct, tariff-free trade with Northern Cyprus.

Leo Docherty: In accordance with the rest of the international community, with the sole exception of Turkey, the UK does not recognise the self-declared "Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus" as an independent state. Several UN Security Council Resolutions and other multilateral agreements also limit links between UK and the north. However, within these constraints we support measures to reduce the isolation of the Turkish Cypriot community, including through regular engagement with the Turkish Cypriot Chamber of Commerce. Last month, HM Trade Commissioner visited Cyprus to discuss trade issues further. We continue to believe that a just and lasting settlement in Cyprus is the best means of resolving the difficulties caused by the division of the island.

Cyprus: Mediterranean Region

Naz Shah: To ask the Minister of State, Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office, whether he has made an assessment of the potential contribution of Turkish Cypriot Muslims in Northern Cyprus to the UK’s strategic position in the eastern Mediterranean.

Leo Docherty: In accordance with the rest of the international community, with the sole exception of Turkey, the UK does not recognise the self-declared "Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus" as an independent state. We do however engage with all parties, including Turkish Cypriots and Greek Cypriot communities, as well as faith communities, as part of the UK's commitment to stability and security in the region.

Home Office

Asylum

Dan Carden: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, pursuant to the Answer of 6 December 2023 to Question 4245 on Asylum, from which organisations he received this evidence.

Tom Pursglove: The Home Office employs professional analysts who provide a wide range of impartial advice to Home Office ministers on the evidence that both they and external organisations produce.Current published information on why individuals come to the United Kingdom can be found at: Immigration system statistics, year ending September 2023.

Frontier Workers: Work Permits

Karl Turner: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many Frontier Worker permits have been issued to non-UK seafarers covered by the Citizens’ Rights Agreement since 20 December 2020.

Tom Pursglove: The Home Office does not collect data on the number of non-UK seafarers issued a Frontier Worker Permit. Data relating to our quarterly migration statistics can be found at the following link: Migration statistics - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)

Police: Equipment and Protective Clothing

Helen Morgan: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, if he will make an assessment of the adequacy of the number of (a) batons, (b) tasers, (c) personal radios, (d) bodycams, (d) helmets and (e) stab vests supplied to (i) West Mercia Police and (ii) each other police force in the last five years.

Chris Philp: The number and type of equipment forces require remains an operational matter and is determined by chief officers in line with their respective force’s Strategic Threat and Risk Assessment.Only less lethal weaponry and equipment that has passed strict testing processes may be used by police forces in England and Wales.

Anti-social Behaviour: Victims

Dehenna Davison: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps his Department is taking to help protect victims of targeted anti-social behaviour.

Chris Philp: On 27 March, the Government launched the Anti-social Behaviour Action Plan (https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/anti-social-behaviour-action-plan) ensuring the police, local authorities and other relevant agencies have the tools and powers they need to tackle anti-social behaviour.The plan is backed by £160m of funding. This includes up to £60m to fund an increased police and other uniformed presence to clamp down on anti-social behaviour, targeting hotspots. Initially we are working with 10 police force areas, including Durham. From 2024 we will be rolling out this hotspot approach across every police force area in England and Wales. We are also providing up to £50m to support the provision of Immediate Justice, by issuing out of court disposals with conditions to swiftly repair any damage. This has started in 10 initial trailblazer police force areas, including Durham, and will be rolled out nationally in 2024.As part of the Action Plan, we re-launched the Community Trigger as the ‘Anti-social Behaviour Case Review’, which gives victims of persistent antisocial behaviour the right to request a multi-agency case review where a local threshold is met. The new guidance provides greater clarity on how and when it can be used and encouraging agencies to automatically conduct reviews once the threshold has been hit. We updated the gov.uk pages https://www.gov.uk/guidance/anti-social-behaviour-asb-case-review-also-known-as-the-community-trigger to raise awareness of this tool to give victims and communities a say in the way that complaints of ASB are dealt with.

Home Office: Recruitment

Jonathan Ashworth: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how much his Department spent on external recruitment consultants in the (a) 2020-21, (b) 2021-22 and (c) 2022-23 financial year.

Chris Philp: The Home Office does not report the information sought to the level of granularity required.To identify spending on recruitment consultants specifically from our management systems would require a manual review of all consultancy related transactions.This can only be obtained at disproportionate cost.

Police Deaths on Duty

Navendu Mishra: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps he takes to mark the contribution of police officers killed in the line of duty.

Chris Philp: It is right that we recognise the contribution and sacrifice of any police officer who dies in the course of their police duties.The Home Office works with policing to remember all of these officers, by supporting national memorials and events, such as the UK Police Memorial at the National Arboretum and the annual National Police Memorial Day.The Government is proud to support these permanent and dignified tributes to the memory of our fallen officers.

Police: Suicide

Navendu Mishra: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, pursuant to the Answer of 13 November 2023 to Question 818 on Police: Suicide, what assessment he has made of the potential merits of collecting information centrally on how many serving police officers have taken their own lives.

Chris Philp: The Office for National Statistics (ONS) publish data on suicides by occupation in England and Wales. Data on occupation is coded using the Standard Occupation Classification which includes a code of senior police officers, police officers (sergeant and below), and police community support officers.This Government takes the physical and mental health of the police workforce very seriously and we are committed to making improvements in wellbeing support for officers and staff. Since 2019, the Home Office has provided over £14m to the National Police Wellbeing Service.Through the Police Covenant, we continue to work with policing partners to ensure those who work in policing and their families get the support and protection they need. We have already delivered pre-deployment mental health support for all new starters, established a Chief Medical Officer for policing and set an initial priority work stream on suicide prevention.The Home Office is also providing funding to establish and run the first year of a 24/7 Mental Health Crisis Support line for current and former members of the police workforce. This will provide urgent support for our police when they need it the most and can be accessed from any area at any time.

Offences against Children: Artificial Intelligence

Andrew Rosindell: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what recent steps his Department has taken to tackle AI-generated (a) child abuse and (b) pornography images online.

Laura Farris: The Government remains firmly committed to tackling all forms of child sexual abuse online and in our communities across the UK and internationally.The law in the UK is very clear with regards to production of child sexual abuse material. It is an offence to produce, store, share or search for any material that contains or depicts child sexual abuse, regardless of whether the material depicts a ‘real’ child or not. This prohibition also includes pseudo-imagery that may have been computer-generated.Home Office investment supports the National Crime Agency to use its unique capabilities to disrupt the highest harm offenders, safeguard children and remove the most horrific child sexual abuse material from the internet, including on the dark web.Furthermore, as part of the Government’s work to tackle child sexual abuse offences, the Government has driven forward the Online Safety Act which puts in place the strongest protections for children and all companies in scope of the legislation will need to tackle child sexual abuse as a priority.In October, the Home Office, in partnership with the Internet Watch Foundation, hosted an AI Safety Summit event to discuss the growing threat of generative artificial intelligence creating child sexual abuse material. As part of the event, the Home Office issued a joint statement on tackling the proliferation of AI generated Child Sexual Abuse Material, with 33 signatories including tech companies such as Snapchat, TikTok and Stability AI.On 27 June, the Government announced amendments to the Online Safety Act related to intimate image abuse, based on the recommendations made in the Law Commission’s report. The amendments included offences for the sending, sharing, and threatening to share ‘deepfake’ pornography, as part of a new ‘base offence’ that criminalises someone for sharing an intimate image without consent. Deepfake material will fall into scope of the illegal content duties where it is linked to a priority offence, for example material that contains an incitement to violence against individuals or extreme or revenge pornographic deepfakes. All services in scope will need to proactively seek out and remove this and other illegal content listed in Schedule 7. They must also prevent their services from being used to facilitate priority offences, including where the targets of these offences are women and girls.Separate to the Online Safety Act, on 1 December the government announced the terms of reference and the Lead Reviewer for its review of pornography regulation, legislation, and enforcement. The objectives for this Review include assessing the impact that legal pornography, including AI generated pornography has on viewers and whether law enforcement and the criminal justice system have the tools they need to effectively respond to child abuse content on pornographic sites.

Council of Europe Convention on Preventing and Combating Violence against Women and Domestic Violence

Stephen Morgan: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps he is taking to implement Articles 12.1 and 12.4 of the Istanbul Convention.

Stephen Morgan: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps his department is taking to promote programmes that engage directly with men and boys to prevent violence against women and girls.

Stephen Morgan: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps he is taking to encourage workplaces to (a) promote positive cultural change and (b) prevent harmful attitudes and behaviours that lead to violence against women.

Stephen Morgan: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, if his Department will undertake a post legislative review of section 76 of the Serious Crime Act 2015 to help assess the potential effectiveness of the introduction of an offence of controlling or coercive behaviour in an intimate or family relationship in (a) preventing, (b) prosecuting and (c) punishing coercive control.

Laura Farris: The Department works closely with and promotes organisations that seek to improve the employer's response to domestic abuse, including with the Employers Initiative on Domestic Abuse (EIDA) and the Employers Domestic Abuse Covenant (EDAC).In addition, through the Employers Engagement Fund, The Survivors Trust has been awarded funding in 2023/24 and 2024/25 to work with employers to raise awareness of domestic abuse, train their employees on how to identify, better understand and respond to domestic abuse disclosures in the workplace.Our national communications campaign ‘Enough’ was launched in 2022, to challenge the harmful behaviours that exist within wider society. Campaign advertising has reached millions of individuals across England and Wales, and thousands of clicks on the website through to organisations that support victims of these crimes.

Visas: Families

Stephen Farry: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, with reference to his Oral Statement of 4 December 2023 on Legal Migration, Official Report, column 41, what his Department's policy is on the additional household income threshold requirements per child in that household.

Tom Pursglove: The revised minimum income requirement will be implemented in spring 2024. The Government will set out any transitional provisions associated with this increase in January. Any applications already submitted will be considered in line with the existing policy.

Visas: Families

Imran Hussain: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what his planned timetable is to publish further information about the Government's proposed increases to the minimum income requirement for family visas.

Tom Pursglove: The revised minimum income requirement will be implemented in spring 2024. The Government will set out any transitional provisions associated with this increase in January. Any applications already submitted will be considered in line with the existing policy.

Asylum: Temporary Accommodation

Jim Shannon: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps his Department is taking to ensure that it stays connected with people seeking asylum subsequent to those people being provided accommodation.

Tom Pursglove: We expect asylum seekers to stay in contact with the Home Office and comply with the asylum process, including providing up-to-date contact details and following any reporting conditions when required.Asylum support is provided on the basis that a supported person (and any dependants they have) adhere to the terms and conditions attached to it. Conditions include residing at their allocated accommodation and limits on absences from their asylum accommodation. Our accommodation providers support individuals residing in our accommodation and monitor absences.

Shipping: Migrant Workers

Karl Turner: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many seafarers working in UK waters have been issued with visas under the points-based immigration system since 1 January 2021.

Karl Turner: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, whether the guidance on Chapter 17, Section 4: Continental Shelf Workers of the Immigration Rules published 12 April 2023 applies to (a) seafarers and (b) employment in Renewable Energy Zones.

Tom Pursglove: The continental shelf workers immigration rules concession is for workers employed on offshore installations that are outside UK waters. The concession allows workers to exceptionally live in the United Kingdom during their shore leave. Foreign national workers do not need permission to work outside UK waters.The number of visas issued by occupation and industry are published on Gov.uk Immigration system statistics data tables - GOV.UK: (www.gov.uk).

Visas: Applications

Chi Onwurah: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps he plans to take to reduce the number of pending visa applications.

Tom Pursglove: Detailed information on UK Visas and Immigration’s performance against all of its customer service standards across different immigration routes is available at https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/visa-processing-times.UKVI are currently within their service standards on the overwhelming majority of visa applications.

Visas: Families

Hywel Williams: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what assessment he has made of the potential impact of raising the earnings threshold for family visas to on the human rights of (a) UK citizens and (b) foreign partners of UK citizens.

Tom Pursglove: The family Immigration Rules contain a provision for exceptional circumstances, including a breach of Article 8 of the European Convention on Human Rights, where there would be unjustifiably harsh consequences for the applicant, their partner, a relevant child, or another family member, if their application were to be refused.

Visas: Applications

Dr Rosena Allin-Khan: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what estimate he has made of the number of visa applications that would have been refused under the proposed changes to the minimum salary threshold between 2016 and 2022.

Dr Rosena Allin-Khan: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what estimate he has made of the number of people who will be unable to renew their visas under the proposed changes to the minimum salary threshold in (a) Tooting constituency and (b) the UK.

Dr Rosena Allin-Khan: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many couples on a spousal visa with a combined income of over £38,700 but individual incomes of under £38,700 will be affected by the proposed changes to the minimum salary threshold.

Dr Rosena Allin-Khan: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what assessment he has made of the impact of the proposed changes to the minimum salary threshold for spousal visas on individuals already living in the UK onsuch avisa.

Tom Pursglove: Analytical work has been undertaken across Government to support decision making in this process, and an Impact Assessment will be developed in due course.

Visas: Married People

Hywel Williams: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what assessment he has made of the potential impact of raising the earning threshold for family visas on people who intend to marry a foreign partner (a) before and (b) after Spring 2024 whose salary does not meet this threshold.

Hywel Williams: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, if he will make an estimate of trends in the number of applications for spouse and family visas in the period before the implementation of the proposed higher earnings threshold.

Tom Pursglove: Analytical work has been undertaken across Government to support decision making in this process, and an Impact Assessment will be developed in due course.

Visas: Overseas Students

Neil O'Brien: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, if he will publish a breakdown by country of origin of the number of overseas students each higher education institution in England sponsored visas for in each year since 2010.

Tom Pursglove: The Home Office publishes data on Certificates of acceptance for Studies (CAS) in the ‘Immigration System Statistics Quarterly Release’. Data on CAS used in applications for visas and extensions by nationality are published in table ‘CAS_02’ of the Study Sponsorship (Confirmation of acceptances for Studies) dataset. Information on how to use the dataset can be found in the ‘Notes’ page of the workbook. The latest data relates from 2010 up to the end of September 2023.Information on future Home Office statistical release dates can be found in the ‘Research and statistics calendar’.

Asylum

Alyn Smith: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, with reference to his Oral Statement of 4 December 2023 on Legal Migration, Official Report, column 41, what assessment he has made of the potential impact of the proposals announced in that Statement on the visa status of (a) Ukrainian refugees and (b) others who have claimed asylum in the UK.

Tom Pursglove: Our Points Based System enables the Government to prioritise the skills and talent we need to help our economy grow and support our NHS, while encouraging investment in, and protecting, our own resident workforce.In arriving at this package of measures, we have been mindful of the need to balance the impacts on economic growth and the needs of the labour market. The Ukraine schemes are temporary visa schemes, all those who are granted permission to remain in the UK under them are provided 36 months leave, given access to benefits, healthcare and are able to work. Asylum seekers who are in the UK asylum system and have had their asylum claim outstanding for 12 months or more, through no fault of their own, are allowed to work in jobs on the Shortage Occupation List (SOL). The government will be commissioning the Migration Advisory Committee to advise on the future composition of the Immigration Salary List, the successor to the SOL.

Migrants: Health Services

Mr Gregory Campbell: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how much  money was received from the immigration health surcharge in (a) 2019 and (b) 2022.

Tom Pursglove: Immigration Health Surcharge (IHS) income data is published annually in the Home Office Annual Report and Accounts.Please note that the IHS figure is made up of two lines, one listed as Retained Income, the other as Consolidated Funds. The IHS amounts for financial years 2019/20 and 2022/23 are available online at:Page 152 for 2019-20 financial year:Home Office annual report and accounts 2019 - 2020 (publishing.service.gov.uk) Page 247 for the 2022-23 financial yearHome Office ARA 22-23 Final (publishing.service.gov.uk)

Visas: Families

Alyn Smith: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, whether the proposed changes to the minimum salary threshold for family visas include renewals to spousal visas.

Tom Pursglove: The revised minimum income requirement will be implemented in spring 2024.The Government will set out any transitional provisions associated with the increase in the minimum income requirement in January.Any applications already submitted will be considered in line with the existing policy.

Visas: Overseas Students

Neil O'Brien: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, if he will publish a breakdown by sponsoring higher education institution of the number of student visas issued in each year since 1993.

Tom Pursglove: The Home Office publishes data on Certificates of acceptance for Studies (CAS) in the ‘Immigration System Statistics Quarterly Release’. Data on CAS used in applications for visas and extensions by education sector are published in table ‘CAS_01’ of the Study Sponsorship (Confirmation of acceptances for Studies) dataset. Information on how to use the dataset can be found in the ‘Notes’ page of the workbook. The latest data relates from 2010 up to the end of September 2023.Information on future Home Office statistical release dates can be found in the ‘Research and statistics calendar’.

Immigration: Ukraine

Stephen Farry: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many Ukrainians received a leave outside the immigration rules stamp (a) in total across UK ports, (b) at Drumkeen House and (c) at Belfast International Airport since March 2022.

Tom Pursglove: Ukraine scheme applicants who have travelled with a permission to travel letter, and some Ukrainians who have arrived at UK ports or attended Drumkeen House in Belfast, have received a leave outside the rules immigration stamp. Due to the nature of this process and how it is recorded, we are unable to provide an accurate breakdown of the information requested without incurring disproportionate cost.The Ukraine schemes have welcomed or extended sanctuary in the UK to over 220,000 Ukrainians and their eligible family members. The latest statistics can be found here: Ukraine Family Scheme, Ukraine Sponsorship Scheme (Homes for Ukraine) and Ukraine Extension Scheme visa data – GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)

Migrants: Health Services

Geraint Davies: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, with reference to the draft Immigration (Health Charge) Amendment Order 2023, whether he has made an assessment of the potential impact of the proposed increase to the immigration health surcharge on affected people's ability to access health and care services.

Tom Pursglove: An Impact Assessment and an Equality Impact Assessment were both published alongside the draft Order. Payment of the Immigration Health Surcharge (IHS) is a mandatory visa requirement. It is paid by migrants applying to come to the UK for more than six months, and those who are already in the UK applying to extend their stay. Payment of the IHS entitles migrants to access the NHS on broadly the same basis as a permanent UK resident for the duration of their visa, from the date their visa is granted.

Immigration: Families

Luke Pollard: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, pursuant to the Answer of 15 November to Question 458 on Immigration: Families, if he will make an estimate of the (a) number of family reunion cases that have been expedited to decision-makers in the last year and (b) average time taken for decisions to be made after they have been expedited in the last year.

Tom Pursglove: The Government’s refugee family reunion policy provides a safe and legal route to bring families together.Information regarding processing times is not routinely published and could only be obtained at disproportionate cost.We are committed to improving and speeding up processing times for family reunion applications. We are reviewing processes to streamline decision making to enable us to provide a better service to our customers.We prioritise all applications where the application has been made by an unaccompanied child, under the age of 18. We will also prioritise applications where there is an evidenced urgent or compelling reason.

Refugees: Ukraine

Stephen Farry: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, with reference to the validity requirements for the Ukraine Extension Scheme set out in the Immigration Rules Appendix Ukraine Scheme, if he will amend the date by which applicants must have received permission to enter or stay in the UK from 16 November 2023 to May 2024.

Tom Pursglove: The Ukraine Extension Scheme was established in March 2022 to enable Ukrainian nationals and their close family members already in the UK, with permission (or where that permission has recently expired), to remain in the UK. To qualify for permission under the UES a customer must either hold permission to be in the UK on or between 18 March 2022 and 16 November 2023 or have previously held permission to be in the UK which expired on or after 1 January 2022. Those who have been granted permission by 16 November 2023 will have until 16 May 2024 to submit an application under the UES.We are keeping the need for a possible extension of permission to remain for those here on our Ukraine schemes under consistent review in line with the ongoing conflict.

Migrants: Childcare

Kim Johnson: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, whether his Department has made an estimate of the number of families with no recourse to public funds who are unable to access the 30 hours extended childcare offer for three- and four-year-olds.

Tom Pursglove: The No Recourse to Public Funds (NRPF) condition applies to millions of people, the vast majority of whom are visitors or other temporary migrants who have no need for public funds during their stay. It also applies to those without status, many of whom may not be in touch with the Home Office. The Home Office’s Chief Statistician wrote to the Office for Statistics Regulation on 3 July 2020 to explain why the Home Office does not feel that it is of practical application to produce an estimate of the total population subject to the NRPF condition present in the UK at any one time. His letter can be found at: https://osr.statisticsauthority.gov.uk/correspondence/response-from-daniel-shaw-to-ed-humpherson-parliamentary-question-response/. To note, 30 hours’ free childcare is not considered a ‘public fund’ for immigration purposes. However, the eligibility criteria, as set by the Department for Education, requires at least one parent to have permission to access public funds, which means it may not be available to all families. Parents with NRPF are able to access the 15 hours’ free early education entitlement available for all three- and four-year-olds regardless of their family circumstances and, if eligible, 15 hours free early education for disadvantaged two-year-olds. These 15-hour entitlements primarily benefit the child and their educational development and outcomes. While there are some benefits to parents in reduced childcare fees, this is not the main purpose of these entitlements. The 30 hours’ free childcare entitlement is primarily focused on supporting the parent(s) into work.

Visas: Care Workers and Health Professions

Sam Tarry: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many and what proportion of health and care worker visa holders have dependents in the UK.

Tom Pursglove: The Home Office publishes data on health and care worker visas in the ‘Immigration Statistics Quarterly Release’. Data on the outcomes of health and care visa worker visa applications are published in table ‘Vis_D02’ of the detailed entry clearance visas dataset. Selecting ‘Skilled Worker – Health and Care’ from the visa type subgroup filter and ‘Dependant’ from the applicant type filter will output data on the dependants of health and care worker visa holders. Nationality and time frames can also be filtered. Information on how to use the dataset can be found in the ‘Notes’ page of the workbook. The latest data relates up to the end of September 2023. To calculate the proportion of dependants of health and care worker visa holders, divide dependents by total applicants in a given time period.

Department for Work and Pensions

Social Security Benefits: Disclosure of Information

Sir Stephen Timms: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what estimate he has made of the number of claimants who would be within the scope of Clause 128 and Schedule 11 of the Data Protection and Digital Information Bill; and how many receive (a) the state pension, (b) Personal Independence Payment and (c) child benefit as the only relevant benefit.

Paul Maynard: Fraud is a growing problem across the economy, accounting for over 40% of all crime in 2022. This problem exists in the welfare system too, with fraud becoming increasingly sophisticated and on a scale not seen in the past. The introduction of the third party data measure is key to helping DWP tackle and reduce fraud and error which amounted to £8.3bn last year (2022-23).   The legislation is clear that the proposed power can only be used to help establish eligibility for DWP benefits that are being paid to individuals. This power requires third parties to look within their own data and provide relevant information to DWP that may signal where DWP claimants do not meet the eligibility criteria for the benefit they are receiving. This data may signal fraud or error and require a further review by DWP – through business-as-usual processes - to determine whether wrongful payments are being made. Only minimal information will ever be shared by designated third parties with DWP where there is a three-way relationship - between DWP, the claimant and the third party - to enable us to make further enquiries. No personal information will be shared by DWP with third parties. DWP cannot exercise this power in relation to Child Benefit, because Child Benefit is not a DWP payment as the legislation sets out. Last year, DWP administered payments of £230.5 billion through the welfare system and we know the vast majority of these claims are paid correctly and accurately. Our measure will only impact a minority of people who are potentially receiving more money than they are eligible to receive. As the Regulatory Impact Assessment sets out, the initial use of this power will be focused on identification of potential capital and abroad fraud and error in Universal Credit, Employment and Support Allowance, Pension Credit and Housing Benefit (passported from Pension Credit) cases. Failure to declare or under-declaring capital is consistently in the top causes of Fraud and Error and cost £894m million in Universal Credit overpayments, £138m in Pension Credit and £167m in ESA in 2022-23. The current powers DWP has are limited and leave the Department unable to address this challenge at scale. The third-party data gathering measure will enable DWP to better access relevant data which will help identify fraud and error in the system. As trends in fraud and error change, it is right we have the ability, in the future, to exercise this power across all benefits and payments that are administered by DWP. Affirmative regulations, and a statutory Code of Practice, will need to be brought forward before the Department can use these powers to define the specific data holder in scope and to outline other elements relating to the use of the power.

Unemployment: Young People

Dr Kieran Mullan: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what steps his Department is taking to help unemployed young people into work.

Mims Davies: The Department of Work and Pensions Youth Offer provides individually tailored Work Coach support to young people aged 16 to 24 who are claiming Universal Credit. This support includes the Youth Employment Programme, Youth Employability Coaches for young people with additional barriers to finding work, and Youth Hubs across Great Britain. Previously, the Youth Offer was only available for those searching for work. As of the 25 September 2023, this been expanded to include to include additional young people on Universal Credit not currently searching for work, including young parents and carers.

Employment Schemes: Young People

Nadia Whittome: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what steps he is taking to support youth employment schemes such as UK Year of Service.

Mims Davies: The UK Year of Service is one of several youth employment schemes announced and part funded by the Department for Culture, Media, and Sport (DCMS). We have been working with DCMS and the National Citizen Service Trust to ensure the scheme achieves the best outcomes for the young people it will support. This includes exploring opportunities to join-up and build on the Department for Work and Pensions’ positive relationship with employers, and by sharing knowledge and evidence related to supporting young people in to work.

Food Banks: Families

Mary Kelly Foy: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what assessment he has made of the implications for his policies of the report entitled Emergency food parcel distribution in the UK: April– September 2023 published by the Trussell Trust on 8 November 2023 which noted that 46% of all food parcels provided by the Trust’s food banks are for families with three or more children.

Mims Davies: The Government is committed to reducing poverty, including child poverty, and supporting low-income families. We will spend around £276bn through the welfare system in Great Britain in 2023/24 including around £124bn on people of working age and children. From April 2023, we uprated benefit rates and State Pensions by 10.1% and, subject to Parliamentary approval, working-age benefits will rise by 6.7% from April 2024, in line with inflation. With over 900 thousand job vacancies across the UK, our focus remains firmly on supporting parents to move into and progress in work. This approach which is based on clear evidence about the importance of employment - particularly where it is full-time - in substantially reducing the risks of poverty. In 2021/22 children living in workless households were 5 times more likely to be in absolute poverty, after housing costs, than those where all adults work. To help people into work, our core Jobcentre offer provides a range of options, including face-to-face time with work coaches and interview assistance. In addition, there is specific support targeted towards young people, people aged 50 plus and job seekers with disabilities or health issues. To further support parents into work, on 28th June 2023, the maximum monthly amounts that a parent can be reimbursed for their childcare increased by 47%, from £646.35 for one child and £1,108.04 for two or more children to £950.92 and £1,630.15 respectively. Importantly, we can now also provide even more help with upfront childcare costs when parents move into work or increase their hours. In addition, on 1 April 2024, the Government will increase the National Living Wage for workers aged 21 years and over by 9.8% to £11.44 representing an increase of over £1,800 to the gross annual earnings of a full-time worker on the National Living Wage.This government understands the pressures people, including parents, are facing with the cost of living which is why we are providing total support of £104bn over 2022-25 to help households and individuals.In the financial year 2023/24, this has included Cost of Living payments totalling up to £900 for households on eligible means-tested benefits, a further £150 Disability Cost of Living Payment for people on eligible ‘extra cost’ disability benefits; and, for pensioner households, an additional £300 Cost of Living payment paid as a top up to the winter fuel payment.The Household Support Fund is running throughout the financial year 2023/24. This enables Local Authorities in England to continue to provide discretionary support to those most in need with the cost of essentials.Further, from April 2024, to support low-income households with increasing rent costs, the government will raise Local Housing Allowance rates to the 30th percentile of local market rents for private renters. This will benefit 1.6m low-income households by on average £800 a year in 24/25.

Employment Schemes: Young People

Nadia Whittome: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what steps he is taking to support young people from low social-economic backgrounds into employment.

Mims Davies: We want everyone to be able to find a job, progress in work, and thrive in the labour market whoever they are and wherever they live.The Department of Work and Pensions Youth Offer provides individually tailored Work Coach support to young people aged 16 to 24 who are claiming Universal Credit. This support includes the Youth Employment Programme, Youth Employability Coaches for young people with additional barriers to finding work, and Youth Hubs across Great Britain. DWP is a strong champion for social mobility. We have established the Social Mobility Pledge Consortium in partnership with TalkTalk. The pledge asks businesses to make measurable commitments to diversify the backgrounds of their workforce and help vulnerable people in to work. Nearly 120 employer signatories have made the pledge over the last year.

Access to Work Programme

Vicky Foxcroft: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, pursuant to the Answers of 20 November 2023 to Question 1370 and 28 November 2023 to Question 3349 on Access to Work Programme, for what reason the requested information was only available on 28 November 2023.

Jo Churchill: We were able to provide the requested information for PQ3349 because a specific time period was provided.

Unemployment

Duncan Baker: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many people aged (a) 16 and over and (b) 16 to 64 were (i) in employment and (ii) unemployed between February and April 2010.

Duncan Baker: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many people aged 16 to 64 were economically inactive in the period between February and April 2010; and how many people aged 16 to 24 were (a) in employment and (b) unemployed in that period.

Duncan Baker: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what the total rate of employment was for people aged 16 and over in the period between February and April 2010; and what the total rate of unemployment was for people aged 16 to 64 in that period.

Jo Churchill: Employment, unemployment and economic inactivity data for various age groups is published and available at:https://www.ons.gov.uk/employmentandlabourmarket/peopleinwork/employmentandemployeetypes/datasets/summaryoflabourmarketstatistics The headline measure of the UK employment level is for people aged 16+ whereas the headline measure of the employment rate is for people aged 16-64.The headline measure of the UK unemployment level and the unemployment rate is for people aged 16+.The headline measure of the UK economic inactivity level is for people aged 16-64.

Department for Work and Pensions: Electronic Government

Sammy Wilson: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what steps he is taking to help ensure the accessibility of her Department's digital services for elderly claimants.

Paul Maynard: Digital accessibility is no different for elderly people than for any other disabled people. We aim to comply with the Public Sector Bodies Accessibility Regulations (2018), which means that services must conform to the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) to AA level. All services are tested to ensure that they work with assistive software, particularly with screen readers, screen magnifiers and voice recognition software. ONS data shows that disability prevalence increases significantly as people get older. In the UK 2021 census, approximately 23% of working age adults identified as disabled. This rose to just over 40% of 65 to 70 year olds and almost 60% of people over the age of 80. The types of disability that affect older people’s ability to use digital services include dexterity impairments (35% of 65+) which make using a mouse more difficult;memory impairments(13% of 65+) which make following complex processes more difficult; andvision impairments (13% of 65+) which make reading and inputting information more difficult. Meeting the legislation for digital accessibility mitigates all of these issues to the extent that it is possible. Our citizen-facing services that are aimed at elderly claimants, such as Pension Credit, Get Your State Pension, Pension Tracing Service, bereavement related services and Carer’s Allowance are all compliant. All citizen facing services in Retirement, and Bereavement and Care are 100% compliant and work with all the main assistive software types.

Child Maintenance Service: Standards

Hannah Bardell: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what recent assessment he has made of the adequacy of customer service provided by the child maintenance service.

Paul Maynard: The Child Maintenance Service (CMS) is committed to delivering our DWP Customer Charter promises and has created a customer-focused continuous improvement culture to support and achieve this. The customer charter emphasises the need to try to understand the customers circumstances and to treat fairly and with respect. Empathy is defined and expectations for its use, are made clear. CMS Customer Experience Strategy involves bringing together all enabling colleagues and regularly reviewing lived customer experience using a dashboard of insight measures including the DWP customer experience survey and then turning this into actionable lessons learnt and improvement plans. Activity includes a programme of work to strengthen our performance management, quality assurance and 121 coaching. We are also improving our communication with customers by expanding the facilities offered through our online self-service and web chat, allowing parents to access their account 24 hours a day, seven days a week at a time that works for them and simplifying the content of letters. By improving our online services we’ll be able to use the most appropriate channel routing to get customers to the fastest course of action, increasing online usage and reducing the time spent on telephone calls.

Department for Work and Pensions: Remote Working

Liz Twist: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many and what proportion of his Department's employees work on a fully remote basis.

Paul Maynard: The DWP has 407 members of staff that are recorded as being permanent Homeworkers which equates to 0.46%. This is data as of 30th November 2023.

Department for Work and Pensions: Vacancies

John McDonnell: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many vacancies there were in his Department for the most recent date for which figures are available.

Paul Maynard: DWP does have ambitious recruitment plans over 2023/24 and latest plans are to fill approximately 4,850 posts a quarter, through internal and external recruitment to manage attrition and also grow key priority areas to respond to changing demand and commitments.

Workplace Pensions

Justin Madders: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, when he plans to publish his Department's response to the Options for Defined Benefit Scheme: call for evidence which closed in September 2023.

Paul Maynard: The government response to ‘Options for Defined Benefit schemes: a call for evidence’ was published on 22 November 2023. Please see the link to our response at Government response to Options for Defined Benefit schemes - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk).

Pension Credit

Justin Madders: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many Pension Credit claimants reached State Pension age (a) in and (b) since April 2016.

Paul Maynard: Latest published statistics show there were 1.38m Pension Credit claimants at May-23. 1,440 of these reached State Pension age (SPa) in April 2016, with a further 196,520 having reached SPa since April 2016.

Child Maintenance Service: Training

Hannah Bardell: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, whether child maintenance caseworkers receive training on identifying when standard procedures may cause undue harm or upset for the paying and receiving parent and their children.

Paul Maynard: During the Child Maintenance caseworker learning journey, there are several points where the material places emphasis on the importance of recognising the impact our processes have on our customers. These are highlighted in the Building a Confident and Capable Service modules below: TelephonyEnsuring processes are explained well and that customers have the time to provide information regarding their circumstances. IncomeEmphasises the importance of recognising that changes in income can have a big impact on both parents. For the paying parent, the impact may be an income change is relatively large but does not breach tolerance. For the receiving parent, a 25% income change will make a significant difference to their maintenance payments. Learners are expected to be sensitive to these changes, support, listen and guide all customers through the process, signposting where required. The My Child Maintenance Case website is promoted to ensure all customers are aware of the ease of using our online service to report income changes. Debt NegotiationRecognising the emotions that the receiving parent goes through when payments are late or where the paying parent is unable or unwilling to pay. Learners are expected to engage with customers and make it as positive an experience as possible, manage expectations and signpost where required. The six-step negotiation model is used to understand paying parent barriers, listen to their issues, signpost as required and set up reasonable, sustainable and affordable agreements for repayment of arrears. The issues with income which has not breached tolerance is again emphasised and examples given to demonstrate the impact on paying parents. Learners are aware of the Stop, Think, Act Strategy when setting up agreements to ensure they meet the criteria of reasonable sustainable and affordable. Domestic AbuseModule focuses on recognising domestic abuse and signposting the customer. Learners are aware that a family-based arrangement may not be appropriate in this situation. The customer may have concerns about sharing personal details, having to be in contact with the other parent or being traced. Learners are made aware of the provision of non-geographical bank accounts and the provision of collect and pay. They also understand when an application fee is not required. The module emphasises that our processes may cause distress and that learners must be sensitive to this.  Welfare of the ChildA dedicated topic which explains to learners the importance of considering how any of our discretionary decisions will have an impact on any child affected by our actions. The Welfare of the Child decision is revisited in every appropriate module throughout the learning to emphasise the importance of making correct decisions in the interest of children. The customer charter emphasises the need to try to understand the customers circumstances and to treat fairly and with respect. Empathy is defined and expectations for its use, are made clear. We are currently delivering a programme of work to embed improved 1-2-1 coaching and team level performance management and quality assurance activity across all delivery and enabling teams.

Social Security Benefits: Children

John McDonnell: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many children live in households where at least one adult is in work which are affected by the benefit cap.

Jo Churchill: The information requested is not readily available and to provide it would incur disproportionate cost.

Universal Credit

Wendy Chamberlain: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many Universal Credit recipients had payments reduced to nil due to two earnings payments in the assessment period between (a) 26 January 2023 and 25 February 2023 and (b) 18 August 2023 and 17 September 2023.

Jo Churchill: The information requested is the subject of an upcoming statistical release, and cannot be released before that publication is ready, subject to usual quality assurance.

Universal Credit

Mr Gregory Campbell: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, if he will make a comparative estimate of the number of Universal Credit claimants in the no work related requirements group between 2017 and 2022.

Jo Churchill: Official statistics of the number of people on Universal Credit by conditionality group are published monthly on Stat-Xplore and available from April 2015 to November 2023. The latest Universal Credit statistical bulletin provides information about the increase in the number of people in the no work related requirements conditionality regime since October 2018. The Universal Credit caseload is evolving as cases migrate from the previous system and they will be representative of the broader benefit population.

Department of Health and Social Care

Incontinence: Health Services

Navendu Mishra: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, pursuant to the Answer of 30 November 2023 to Question 3997 on Incontinence: Health Services, whether her Department plans to engage stakeholders during the course of the National Bladder and Bowel Health Project.

Andrew Stephenson: The Department of Health and Social Care has indicated that it will not be possible to answer this question within the usual time period. An answer is being prepared and will be provided as soon as it is available.

IVF: East Midlands

Neil O'Brien: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how many (a) cycles of IVF were funded and (b) people received a cycle of IVF in the Leicester, Leicestershire and Rutland integrated care board in the most recent year for which data is available.

Neil O'Brien: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how many (a) cycles of IVF were funded and (b) people received a cycle of IVF in each NHS region in the most recent year for which data is available.

Neil O'Brien: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how much the NHS spent on IVF and fertility treatment in (a) real and (b) cash terms in each year since 1997.

Maria Caulfield: This information is not collected centrally.

Oppositional Defiant Disorder

Alex Sobel: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, if he will make an assessment of the potential merits of supporting all NHS Trusts to offer Oppositional Defiant Disorder as a diagnosis.

Maria Caulfield: There are no plans to make such an assessment. Individual diagnoses are a matter for clinicians. The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence provides national clinical guidelines concerning the recognition and management of conduct disorders in children and young people, including oppositional defiant disorder. We expect clinicians, commissioners, and providers to adhere to this guidance.

Personal Care Services: Safety

Alexander Stafford: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps her Department is taking to help ensure patient safety in beauty establishments.

Alexander Stafford: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, If she will use the powers of the Social Care Act 2022 to help improve patient safety in cosmetic interventions.

Maria Caulfield: The Government is using the powers in the Health and Care Act 2022 to introduce a licensing scheme for non-surgical cosmetic procedures in England. The licensing scheme will help to uphold patient safety by ensuring that those who offer specified procedures are suitably knowledgeable, trained, qualified, hold appropriate indemnity cover and operate from premises which meet the necessary standards of hygiene, infection control and cleanliness.We recently ran the first public consultation on the scope of the licensing scheme and are currently analysing the responses. We will publish our response in the new year.

Health Services: Finance

Munira Wilson: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how much funding her Department has provided for (a) mental health services (i) for children and young people and (ii) in total and (b) all NHS services in each financial year since 2019-20.

Maria Caulfield: It is for individual local commissioners to allocate funding to mental health services to meet the needs of their local populations and this information is not collected centrally. Integrated care boards are expected to continue to meet the Mental Health Investment Standard by increasing their investment in mental health services in line with their overall increase in funding for the year.The following table shows the actual expenditure on mental health services for the period 2019/20 to 2022/23:YearMental health spend for children and young people, excluding learning disabilities and eating disorders (£ billion)Total mental health spend (£ billion)2019/200.7913.322020/210.8814.312021/220.9214.932022/231.0415.97Source: NHS Mental Health DashboardNote: Total actual mental health spend reported here includes spending on learning disabilities and dementia, which is not included in the mental health investment standard or the baseline spend for the commitment in the NHS Long Term Plan to increase mental health spending by at least £2.3 billion a year by 2023/24.

Mental Health Services: Children and Young People

Munira Wilson: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, with reference to the NHS Long Term Plan, published on 7 January 2019, how much and what proportion of the additional £2.3 billion of funding for mental health services has been spent on services for (a) children and (b) other young people.

Maria Caulfield: The NHS Long Term Plan committed to increasing funding to support the expansion and transformation of National Health Service-funded mental health services for adults, children, and young people in England by an additional £2.3 billion a year by March 2024. The proportion of this funding that has been spent on children and young people’s services is not separately identifiable.

Mental Health Services: Ambulance Services

Vicky Foxcroft: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how many calls were responded to by mental health joint response cars in London in each of the last 12 months.

Helen Whately: The information requested is not routinely collected centrally. Ambulance performance data is published monthly by NHS England and is available at the following link:https://www.england.nhs.uk/statistics/statistical-work-areas/ambulance-quality-indicators/ambulance-quality-indicators-data-2023-24/

Occupational Therapy and Physiotherapy

Karin Smyth: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what estimate she has made of the number of patients who required support from (a) physiotherapists and (b) occupational therapists in each of the last five years.

Helen Whately: Data is not held on the total number of patients who required support from physiotherapists or occupational therapists in each of the last five years. Physiotherapists and occupational therapists provide care and support for patients in a wide range of settings and across different services and specialities.

Community Health Services: Standards

Karin Smyth: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how many and what proportion of patients waited longer than 2 hours for urgent community response teams in each of the last 12 months.

Helen Whately: Urgent community response (UCR) two-hour response services respond to people at risk of admission or re-admission to hospital due to a ‘crisis’ and where individuals are likely to attend hospital within the next two to 24 hours without intervention, to prevent further deterioration and keep them safe at home. Approximately 35% of referrals into UCR services do not require a response within two hours. Where this is the case, they should receive care within the timescales they require and be supported to remain safely at home with appropriate services.The following table shows both the number and percentage of two-hour referrals waiting longer than two hours for a response: MonthPercentage of two-hour referrals waiting longer than two hours for a responseNumber of two-hour referrals waiting longer than two hours for a responseAugust 2023156902July 2023156648June 2023166529May 2023166305April 2023165949March 2023186710February 2023196209January 2023196539December 2022218017November 2022185268October 2022195509September 2022184756 Source: NHS England

General Practitioners: Standards

Jim Shannon: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps her Department is taking to help reduce waiting times for GP appointments.

Andrea Leadsom: We have set an expectation that everyone who needs an appointment at a general practice should get one within two weeks, with the most urgent patients being seen on the same day. In November 2022, we started publishing practice-level appointment data, which shows the time between when appointments are booked, and when they take place. This will improve transparency about practices are performing and give commissioners information to help services improve.

Pharmacy: Training

Karin Smyth: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how many pharmacist training places have been available in each of the last five years; and how many pharmacists have taken up these training places.

Andrea Leadsom: The number of training places for pharmacists in England is uncapped and determined each year by health education providers. The following table shows the number of trainees accepted and started on Masters of Pharmacy courses: Students accepted (Universities and Colleges Admissions Service)Starters in first year (Higher Education Statistics Agency)2022/233,590n/a2021/223,4953,5452020/213,0853,1052019/202,9452,8302018/192,8753,105

Smoking

Gareth Johnson: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether she has made an assessment of the implications for her policies of data from New Zealand on a generational ban on smoking.

Andrea Leadsom: Smoking is responsible for around 80,000 deaths a year in the United Kingdom, causes around one in four cancer deaths and is responsible for just over 70% of all lung cancer deaths. No other consumer product kills up to two-thirds of its users. Smoking costs our country £17 billion a year and puts a huge burden on the National Health Service. Almost every minute of every day someone is admitted to hospital because of smoking, and up to 75,000 General Practice appointments attributed to smoking each month – over 100 appointments every hour.This is why the Government is planning to create a smokefree generation by bringing forward legislation so that children turning 14 years old this year or younger will never be legally sold tobacco products.Modelling assumptions for the policy outline that one of our four scenarios modelled reflects the assumptions used in modelling from New Zealand. The document is available at the following link:https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/651d3fdf6a6955000d78b29e/cp-949-II-stopping-the-start-annex-1-modelling-assumptions.pdf

Pharmacy

Karin Smyth: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how many and what proportion of community pharmacists have worked in England for each of the last 10 years.

Andrea Leadsom: The General Pharmaceutical Council (GPhC) has a duty to maintain a register of all pharmacists and pharmacy technicians registered to practice in Great Britain. The register does not contain data on what pharmacy sector registrants are employed in and numbers by country are according to their registered home address. This does not necessarily mean that registrants are working in those countries or that they are in employment.NHS England and formerly Health Education England conduct a community pharmacy workforce survey. The following table shows the number of pharmacists working in community pharmacy in England and its proportion of the GPhC register as of 31 October in each year reported: Number of pharmacists working in community pharmacyProportion of GPhC register as of 31 October202227,71152%202127,40654%201723,28450% Notes:Data only exists for 2017, 2021 and 2022 as these were the only years of survey data collection.The data provided is the headcount of pharmacists working in community pharmacy at the time of the survey and excludes trainees.Proportion data is indicative as the survey data and GPhC register data are not directly comparable.

Dental Services: Warwick and Leamington

Matt Western: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how many children have had an appointment with a NHS dentist in Warwick and Leamington constituency in each year since 2010.

Andrea Leadsom: This data is not published at constituency level. We have therefore presented the data which is available at ICB level in the following table.For Coventry and Warwickshire Integrated Care Board (ICB):YearNumber of children seen in previous 12 months to June of each yearNumber of children seen as a proportion of total population of children2016109,69159%2017112,12060%2018114,96055%2019117,00261%2020107,11455%202168,69735%202299,56950%2023113,82257%Source: https://digital.nhs.uk/data-and-information/publications/statistical/nhs-dental-statisticsNote: The methodology to count how many children have been seen changed in 2016. We therefore have not included figures for the years before 2016 as they are not comparable.

Health Services: Children

Tim Loughton: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps she is taking to reduce elective backlogs in child health services.

Andrea Leadsom: NHS England continues to action the Delivery Plan for Tackling the COVID-19 Backlog of Elective Care, aiming to reduce the number of patients waiting over a year for treatment, including for child health services.The Department and the National Health Service are committed to ensuring that babies, children, and young people are prioritised in integrated care systems, and that reforms in the Health and Care Act 2022 aiming to improve child health and wellbeing outcomes are delivered on the ground.To join up work, NHS England has established a National Children and Young People Elective Recovery Delivery Group, bringing together the national Elective Recovery Programme, the Children and Young People’s Transformation Programme and other stakeholders. The group to accelerate progress and ensure the recovery of paediatric services keeps pace with recovery of adult elective care.

Dental Health: Children

Alistair Strathern: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how many children under the age of 18 were admitted to hospital for a tooth extraction due to decay in Bedfordshire in each of the last five years.

Andrea Leadsom: Information on hospital tooth extractions for 0-19 year olds is published by the Office of Health Improvement and Disparities, and available from the following link:https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/hospital-tooth-extractions-in-0-to-19-year-olds-2022/hospital-tooth-extractions-in-0-to-19-year-olds-2022#:~:text=For%20the%20financial%20year%202021%20to%202022%20there%20were%2042%2C180,extractions%20for%20this%20age%20group.The table below summarises the information for Bedfordshire, Luton and Milton Keynes Integrated Care Board. Number of extractionsNumber of extraction due to decay% of extractions due to decay2017-1858019033%2018-1970026037%2019-2066023035%2020-2132513542%2021-2259022538%

Primary Health Care: Finance

Alistair Strathern: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what assessment her Department has made of the potential impact of changes in lease capitalisation requirements in April 2022 on the ability of integrated care boards to fund expansions of primary care facilities.

Andrea Leadsom: In preparation for the implementation of the International Financial Reporting Standard for lease accounting (IFRS16), NHS England performed an analysis of IFRS16’s effects on the capital departmental expenditure limit (CDEL). National Health Service organisations self-reported their estimated additional CDEL need, and this was aggregated and tested. NHS England was then allocated additional CDEL by HM Treasury to cover the IFRS16 effects. NHS England manages this budget nationally, working with integrated care boards (ICBs), ensuring that local impacts are managed and necessary CDEL provided.Most general practice premises are directly owned or leased by general practitioners (GPs). There are few instances where ICBs are leasing GP premises and therefore IFRS16 has a minimal impact on the funding of GP premises improvements.

HIV Infection: Ethnic Groups

Florence Eshalomi: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps his Department plans to take to provide effective HIV (a) testing, (b) treatment and (c) counselling services for the black community.

Andrea Leadsom: Since 2013, the Government has mandated local authorities in England to commission comprehensive open access to most sexual health services, including free and confidential HIV testing, and provision of the HIV prevention drug PrEP through the Public Health Grant, funded at £3.4 billion overall in 2022-23. It is for individual local authorities to decide their spending priorities based on an assessment of local need and to commission the service lines that best suit their population.NHS England are responsible for providing HIV treatment and care, which continues to have very high coverage and effectiveness across England. In 2022, among those with known treatment status, 98% received treatment, and 98% of those treated were virally suppressed.The Government is committed to improving the quality of life for people living with HIV including within the black community. As part of the Government’s HIV Action Plan, a Workforce Task and Finish group was established in 2023, which will explore innovative ways for the workforce to provide better support to people of all demographics, including mental health support. They will present their recommendations to the HIV Action Plan Implementation Steering Group, who will agree how the advice will be taken forward.As set out in the NHS England Roadmap, specialised HIV inpatient and outpatient services have been identified as key areas for greater integrated care systems (ICS) leadership by NHS England and Integrated Care Boards (ICBs). This will allow local systems to simplify and strengthen HIV care pathways with other services through effective local partnerships, including psychosocial support and mental health and counselling services, for a more holistic approach to care.

Health Services: Children

Tim Loughton: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what percentage of funding announced for NHS services in 2023 will be spent on child health services.

Andrea Leadsom: As the financial year has not yet concluded, outturn data on National Health Service spending in 2023/2024 is not yet available. The Government is committed to ensuring that babies, children, and young people are prioritised in integrated care systems, and that the reforms in the Health and Care Act 2022 to improve child health and wellbeing outcomes are delivered on the ground.

Genetics: Screening

Kate Osborne: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether her Department has made an assessment of the potential implications for management of donor information of commercial direct-to-consumer genetic testing.

Maria Caulfield: The Government asked the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority (HFEA) in 2021 to undertake a review and public engagement about priorities for modernising the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Act. HFEA published its report on 14 November 2023, which is available at the following link:https://www.hfea.gov.uk/about-us/modernising-the-regulation-of-fertility-treatment-and-research-involving-human-embryos/HFEA’s report notes the rapidly developing field of genetic testing, including direct to consumer testing, and includes proposals about access to donor information. The Government is considering the issues raised in the report and will respond in due course.

Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

Blue Planet Fund

Dr Rosena Allin-Khan: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, if he will make an estimate of the amount and proportion of funding provided to arms length bodies through the Blue Planet Fund that was spent on management fees.

Rebecca Pow: By the end of March 2024, approximately £5 million will have been spent on Arms-Length Body (ALB) overhead fees under the Blue Planet Fund’s Ocean Country Partnership Programme (OCPP). This represents 22 percent of their allocated budget to deliver OCPP. The percentage of ALB spend that has been attributed to overhead costs has decreased each year of the programme, and we expect this trend to continue as more in-country partners are onboarded to carry out delivery.

Wood-burning Stoves

Helen Hayes: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, whether his Department has made an assessment of the potential merits of phasing out wood burning stoves.

Robbie Moore: Our Environmental Improvement Plan published in January 2023 sets out our polices to reduce emissions from wood burning. We recognise that some households are reliant on solid fuels as a primary heat source. Our policies are focused on encouraging those who must burn to do so in the cleanest way possible.

Flood Control: Loughborough

Jane Hunt: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, whether the Environment Agency has plans to provide funding for flood mitigation in Loughborough over the next 5 years.

Robbie Moore: The Environment Agency (EA) is working with partners to manage flood risk within Loughborough. The EA has allocated funding to develop the Wood Brook and Tributaries Flood Risk Management Scheme which will better protect over 150 properties. Under the Government’s partnership funding policy, £4.7 million of Flood Defence Grant in Aid is available for the scheme. The EA is also working with partners to develop a Strategic Catchment Plan to create a holistic and long-term approach to managing flood risk within Loughborough and the wider catchment.

Grasslands: Environment Protection

Kerry McCarthy: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what support his Department provides to (a) farmers and (b) land managers to protect grasslands.

Rebecca Pow: There are a wide range of grassland offers available for both farmers and land managers within our current Sustainable Farming Incentive and Countryside Stewardship offers. Grants available cover all types of grassland from agriculturally productive grasslands to priority habitat grasslands, such as support for actions for the protection and management of species rich grassland and wet grassland for waders and wildfowl. In addition, we are looking at introducing a number of new actions to help protect grassland including managing floodplain meadows. As of April 2023, there were a total of 755,640 hectares of grassland managed and enhanced in both Countryside Stewardship and Environmental Stewardship schemes. In January 2023, the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs published an “Environmental Land Management update: how government will pay for land-based environment and climate goods and services”. This publication sets out all the activities we’ll pay farmers and land managers to carry out from 2024, to improve the environment alongside food production. We will publish further details on the 2024 offer shortly.

Air Pollution

Geraint Davies: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, with reference to the Answer of 15 May 2023 to Question 183293 on Air Pollution, what guidance his Department has published on the use of low-cost sensors in measuring outdoor air pollutants.

Robbie Moore: In addition to information provided in the Local Air Quality Management Technical Guidance 2022, Defra’s Air Quality Expert Group has provided advice, made available on UK Air, on the use of ‘low-cost‘ air pollution sensors. Defra also funded a project in 2022 to develop a publicly available specification (PAS) on the use of low-cost sensors, which is due to be published through the British Standards Institute imminently.

Solid Fuels: Air Pollution

Geraint Davies: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, with reference to the Answer of 2 November 2022 to Question 70939 on Solid Fuels: Air Pollution, what his planned timetable is for publishing the project report of his Department's study to measure pollutant emissions from burning solid fuels in a range of domestic appliances under real-world conditions.

Robbie Moore: The Emissions Factors for Domestic Combustion project is currently expected to run until August 2024.

UK Internal Trade: Digital Technology

Mr Gregory Campbell: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, how much his Department has spent on the Digital Assistance Scheme.

Mark Spencer: The total spend to date (as at 31 October 2023) by Defra on the Digital Assistance Scheme has been £42.33 million. The breakdown is below: Type of SpendFY 2020-21 £mFY 2021-22 £mFY 2022-23 £mFY 2023-24* £mTotalDAS Programme and Staff Costs0.255.9412.23.121.49DAS Capital Costs3.27.794.45.4520.84Total3.4513.7316.68.5542.33*Spend to October 2023

Flood Control: South West

Mr Tobias Ellwood: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what steps his Department is taking to improve flood defences in (a) Bournemouth East constituency and (b) the South West.

Robbie Moore: a) In the Bournemouth East constituency, around £22m of Defra Flood Defence Grant in Aid (FDGiA) is planned to be invested between 2021 and 2027 to better protect around 3,000 properties from flooding and coastal erosion. Work is already underway in the Bournemouth Beach Management Programme to reduce the risk of coastal erosion, and to develop Flood Risk Management strategies for the Lower Stour and Christchurch Bay. These strategies will inform future investment needed to both reduce flood risk and adapt to climate change. Bournemouth, Christchurch & Poole Council are developing surface water management plans that will identify high risk locations and measures necessary to reduce the risk of surface water flooding.  b) The Flood and Coastal Risk Management capital programme 2021-27 has planned FDGiA capital investment of around £700m* for the South West region. This investment is forecast to better protect around 21,300 properties from flooding and coastal erosion. *Please note that allocations are reviewed each year and are subject to change, and numbers for properties better protected are forecasts which are also subject to change. Totals may not include projects that are cross-boundary across multiple regions.

Department for Science, Innovation and Technology

Blockchain and Non-fungible Tokens

Daniel Kawczynski: To ask the Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology, whether she is taking steps to promote public awareness of (a) blockchain and (b) Non-Fungible Tokens.

Saqib Bhatti: I refer the Honourable Member for Shrewsbury and Atcham to the answer given in response to PQ 4875 and PQ 4876.

Department for Culture, Media and Sport

Art Works: Non-fungible Tokens

Daniel Kawczynski: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, what assessment she has made of the implications for her policies of the incorporation of Non-Fungible Tokens into digital artworks to confirm their authenticity.

Sir John Whittingdale: Although DCMS has not made a specific assessment of Non-Fungible Tokens (NFTs), HMT looked at NFTs as part of its consultation on cryptoassets. Developments like NFTs may provide new opportunities, as well as challenges, and we are aware of private sector services offering NFT-based authentication for digital art.

Sports: Cyprus

Naz Shah: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, if her Department will take steps to help ensure that (a) athletes, (b) footballers and (c) teams from Northern Cyprus can participate in international sporting events.

Stuart Andrew: In accordance with the rest of the international community, with the sole exception of Turkey, the UK does not recognise the self-declared “Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus” as an independent state.

Northern Ireland Office

Northern Ireland Office: Recruitment

Jonathan Ashworth: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland, how much his Department spent on external recruitment consultants in the (a) 2020-21, (b) 2021-22 and (c) 2022-23 financial year.

Mr Steve Baker: The amount spent by the Northern Ireland Office on recruitment consultants in the last three years was:2020-21 - £10,3952021-22 - £42,3362022-23 - £20,360

Victims' Payments Scheme

Sir Robert Buckland: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland, if he will make it his policy to decide whether to remove the 31 August 2024 deadline for applications to the Victims' Payments Board by 19 December 2023.

Mr Steve Baker: The Victims Payments Regulations (2020) requires the Secretary of State to conduct a review and report on the operation of the scheme between August 2023 and August 2024. This review provides the most appropriate means to thoroughly consider the issue of backdating. It will be conducted as early as is practicable within the review period, in order to allow sufficient time to take action on this matter and others should it be required.

Northern Ireland Office: Official Hospitality

Jon Trickett: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland, how much their Department spent on hospitality in (a) 2021, (b) 2022 and (c) 2023.

Mr Steve Baker: We do not routinely publish this data, as has been the case under successive administrations. All Business Units within the Northern Ireland Office have a responsibility to keep official hospitality costs as low as possible and demonstrate good value for money.Details of ministerial and senior official hospitality are published on a quarterly basis, and are available on GOV.UK.

Cabinet Office

Domestic Accidents: Death

Karin Smyth: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, if he will make an estimate of the number of deaths due to a long lie fall in each of the last five years.

John Glen: The information requested falls under the remit of the UK Statistics Authority. A response to the Hon lady’s Parliamentary Question of 11 December is attached. UK Statistics Authority  (pdf, 114.1KB)

Foreign Investment in UK: National Security

Liam Byrne: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, with reference to the G7 Japan 2023 Foreign Ministers’ Communiqué, published on 18 April 2023, whether the Government plans to take steps to align the UK's investment screening regime with that of the US as set out in the Presidential Executive Order of 15 September 2022 on Ensuring Robust Consideration of Evolving National Security Risks by the Committee on Foreign Investment.

Ms Nusrat Ghani: The Government is committed to ensuring that the UK’s National Security and Investment (NSI) regime stays up to date with the evolving global security context. We have recently launched a Call for Evidence, seeking views on how the NSI system can be even more business friendly while maintaining and refining essential national security protections.The UK works closely with a range of international partners in this area, including members of the G7. However, decisions made under the NSI Act are based on UK national security considerations, and the scope of the Act itself is carefully tailored to the needs of the UK.

Women and Equalities

Gender Recognition Certificates

Anneliese Dodds: To ask the Minister for Women and Equalities, whether she had discussions with her counterpart in the Australian Northern Territory before laying the Gender Recognition (Approved Countries and Territories and Saving Provision) Order 2023 on the removal of that territory from the list of approved countries and territories to qualify applicants for the overseas route to apply for gender recognition certificates.

Anneliese Dodds: To ask the Minister for Women and Equalities, whether she had discussions with her counterpart in the state of South Australia before laying the Gender Recognition (Approved Countries and Territories and Saving Provision) Order 2023 on the removal of that territory from the list of approved countries and territories to qualify applicants for the overseas route to apply for gender recognition certificates.

Anneliese Dodds: To ask the Minister for Women and Equalities, whether she had discussions with her counterpart in the Australian state of Victoria before laying the Gender Recognition (Approved Countries and Territories and Saving Provision) Order 2023 on the removal of that territory from the list of approved countries and territories to qualify applicants for the overseas route to apply for gender recognition certificates.

Anneliese Dodds: To ask the Minister for Women and Equalities, whether she had discussions with her counterpart in the Australian state of Tasmania before laying the Gender Recognition (Approved Countries and Territories and Saving Provision) Order 2023 on the removal of that territory from the list of approved countries and territories to qualify applicants for the overseas route to apply for gender recognition certificates.

Anneliese Dodds: To ask the Minister for Women and Equalities, whether she had discussions with her counterpart in Austria before laying the Gender Recognition (Approved Countries and Territories and Saving Provision) Order 2023 on the removal of that country from the list of approved countries and territories to qualify applicants for the overseas route to apply for gender recognition certificates.

Anneliese Dodds: To ask the Minister for Women and Equalities, whether she had discussions with her counterpart in the Canadian province of Alberta before laying the Gender Recognition (Approved Countries and Territories and Saving Provision) Order 2023 on the removal of that territory from the list of approved countries and territories to qualify applicants for the overseas route to apply for gender recognition certificates.

Anneliese Dodds: To ask the Minister for Women and Equalities, whether she had discussions with her counterpart in the Canadian province of British Colombia before laying the Gender Recognition (Approved Countries and Territories and Saving Provision) Order 2023 on the removal of that territory from the list of approved countries and territories to qualify applicants for the overseas route to apply for gender recognition certificates.

Anneliese Dodds: To ask the Minister for Women and Equalities, whether she had discussions with her counterpart in the Canadian province of Manitoba before laying the Gender Recognition (Approved Countries and Territories and Saving Provision) Order 2023 on the removal of that territory from the list of approved countries and territories to qualify applicants for the overseas route to apply for gender recognition certificates.

Anneliese Dodds: To ask the Minister for Women and Equalities, whether she had discussions with her counterpart in the Canadian province of New Brunswick before laying the Gender Recognition (Approved Countries and Territories and Saving Provision) Order 2023 on the removal of that territory from the list of approved countries and territories to qualify applicants for the overseas route to apply for gender recognition certificates.

Anneliese Dodds: To ask the Minister for Women and Equalities, whether she had discussions with her counterpart in the Canadian province of Newfoundland and Labrador before laying the Gender Recognition (Approved Countries and Territories and Saving Provision) Order 2023 on the removal of that territory from the list of approved countries and territories to qualify applicants for the overseas route to apply for gender recognition certificates.

Anneliese Dodds: To ask the Minister for Women and Equalities, whether she had discussions with her counterpart in the Canadian province of Nova Scotia before laying the Gender Recognition (Approved Countries and Territories and Saving Provision) Order 2023 on the removal of that territory from the list of approved countries and territories to qualify applicants for the overseas route to apply for gender recognition certificates.

Anneliese Dodds: To ask the Minister for Women and Equalities, whether she had discussions with her counterpart in the Canadian province of Ontario before laying the Gender Recognition (Approved Countries and Territories and Saving Provision) Order 2023 on the removal of that territory from the list of approved countries and territories to qualify applicants for the overseas route to apply for gender recognition certificates.

Anneliese Dodds: To ask the Minister for Women and Equalities, whether she had discussions with her counterpart in the Canadian province of Prince Edward Island before laying the Gender Recognition (Approved Countries and Territories and Saving Provision) Order 2023 on the removal of that territory from the list of approved countries and territories to qualify applicants for the overseas route to apply for gender recognition certificates.

Anneliese Dodds: To ask the Minister for Women and Equalities, whether she had discussions with her counterpart in the Canadian province of Quebec before laying the Gender Recognition (Approved Countries and Territories and Saving Provision) Order 2023 on the removal of that territory from the list of approved countries and territories to qualify applicants for the overseas route to apply for gender recognition certificates.

Anneliese Dodds: To ask the Minister for Women and Equalities, whether she had discussions with her counterpart in the Canadian province of Saskatchewan and Yukon Territory before laying the Gender Recognition (Approved Countries and Territories and Saving Provision) Order 2023 on the removal of that territory from the list of approved countries and territories to qualify applicants for the overseas route to apply for gender recognition certificates.

Anneliese Dodds: To ask the Minister for Women and Equalities, whether she had discussions with her counterpart in Liechtenstein before laying the Gender Recognition (Approved Countries and Territories and Saving Provision) Order 2023 on the removal of that country from the list of approved countries and territories to qualify applicants for the overseas route to apply for gender recognition certificates.

Anneliese Dodds: To ask the Minister for Women and Equalities, whether she had discussions with her counterpart in Luxembourg before laying the Gender Recognition (Approved Countries and Territories and Saving Provision) Order 2023 on the removal of that country from the list of approved countries and territories to qualify applicants for the overseas route to apply for gender recognition certificates.

Anneliese Dodds: To ask the Minister for Women and Equalities, whether she had discussions with her counterpart in Malta before laying the Gender Recognition (Approved Countries and Territories and Saving Provision) Order 2023 on the removal of that country from the list of approved countries and territories to qualify applicants for the overseas route to apply for gender recognition certificates.

Anneliese Dodds: To ask the Minister for Women and Equalities, whether she had discussions with her counterpart in Mexico before laying the Gender Recognition (Approved Countries and Territories and Saving Provision) Order 2023 on the removal of that country from the list of approved countries and territories to qualify applicants for the overseas route to apply for gender recognition certificates.

Stuart Andrew: We conducted thorough research in collaboration with the Foreign Commonwealth and Development Office to verify our understanding of each overseas system in question, to then measure against the UK’s standard route to obtain gender recognition. The Minister for Women and Equalities has been in conversations with the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office throughout this entire process and is monitoring the international reaction to this legislation. Diplomatic posts have been consulted on and notified of the changes, and we have provided them with comprehensive question and answer documents that address any potential misconceptions of what this Order does. We have benefited greatly from this collaboration and I am confident that our international counterparts are well informed about this piece of legislation and its outcomes.

Department for Business and Trade

Tractors: Batteries

Gareth Thomas: To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, what assessment she has made of the potential impact of the rules of origin of the EU-UK Trade and Cooperation Agreement on the production of battery electric vehicle truck tractors if they are not included in the proposed three-year postponement of the introduction of new rules of origin on electric car batteries.

Gareth Thomas: To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, what representations she has received from manufacturers of zero-emission tailpipe HGVs on including battery electric vehicle truck tractors in the proposed three-year delay to the introduction of new rules of origin.

Greg Hands: The Commission has proposed a 3-year delay to the rules of origin for certain electric accumulators and electrified vehicles. The scope of the proposal is limited to only those rules which were staged over several years and due to change in 2024 and again in 2027. The rules which apply to battery electric truck tractors were not due to change in 2024 and have been in force since the end of the transition period.We continue to listen closely to the concerns of the sector and work with industry to maximise the benefits provided by the UK-EU Trade and Cooperation Agreement.

Offshore Industry: Continental Shelf

Karl Turner: To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, with reference to the updated guidance on Chapter 17, Section 4: Continental Shelf Workers of the Immigration Rules published by the Home Office on 12 April 2023, whether Continental Shelf Workers on contracts in the UK oil and gas sector are entitled to the National Minimum Wage.

Karl Turner: To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, with reference to the guidance on Chapter 17, Section 4: Continental Shelf Workers of the Immigration Rules published by the Home Office on 12 April 2023, whether Continental Shelf workers on contracts in Renewable Energy Zones are entitled to the National Minimum Wage.

Kevin Hollinrake: National Minimum Wage (NMW) legislation applies to those who work or ordinarily work in the UK and those Seafarers exploiting and exploring the UK part of the continental shelf are entitled to the UK National Minimum Wage, as well as to some workers on UK-registered ships. We have a proud record of extending the NMW to seafarers.In October 2020, legislation came into force to extend the right to the minimum wage to all seafarers on domestic voyages in the UK territorial sea and to those working in the UK part of the continental shelf.We will continue to consider the needs of all sectors of the economy and take measures where these are needed, taking an evidence-based approach.

Zero Hours Contracts

Mr Gregory Campbell: To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, with reference to the Answer of 24 October 2023 to Question 203453 on Zero Hours Contracts, what the absolute change in the number of people employed under zero hours contracts was between 2017 and 2022.

Kevin Hollinrake: Zero hours contracts (ZHCs) are an important part of the UK’s flexible labour market. They are useful where there is not a constant demand for staff, allowing flexibility for both employers and individuals. Individuals on ZHC’s represent a very small proportion of the workforce. The ONS publishes quarterly data on the number of individuals in work on ZHC’s in the UK. Absolute figures are unavailable, but the ONS estimates that between April – June 2023, 1,180,000 people aged 16 or over in employment in the UK were on a ZHC. This is up from 883,000 between April – June 2017.

Department for Energy Security and Net Zero

Geothermal Power

Dehenna Davison: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero, if she will make an estimate of the UK's capacity for geothermal energy production in each of the next five years.

Amanda Solloway: We know there is promising potential for geothermal energy in the UK and particularly as a low carbon source of heat. The Government is supportive of geothermal projects, and we are exploring policy options in response to the report by the British Geological Survey issued earlier this year to understand how we can support the growth of the sector to maximise its potential in the UK. However, due to the nascency of the sector, there are no plans to estimate its capacity for energy production in the short term.

Department for Energy Security and Net Zero: Employment Tribunals Service

Dr Matthew Offord: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero, how many employment tribunals were brought by employees of their Department in the last 12 months.

Graham Stuart: Details of all employment tribunal decision outcomes are available onGOV.UK: https://www.gov.uk/employment-tribunal-decisions.

BioYorkshire

Rachael Maskell: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero, whether she has made an assessment of the implications for her policies of BioYorkshire's work on cutting emissions; and whether she has had discussions with BioYorkshire on funding opportunities.

Amanda Solloway: The Secretary of State has not made an assessment of the implications for her policies of BioYorkshire's work and she has had no discussions on funding opportunities with BioYorkshire, which is a public-private partnership led by University of York

Energy Efficiency Taskforce

James Wild: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero, whether her Department has taken on the role of the Energy Efficiency Taskforce.

Amanda Solloway: The Secretary of State, after careful deliberation, concluded that the draft work of the Energy Efficiency Taskforce could be streamlined into ongoing government activity. The numerous ideas, discussions and draft recommendations will be instrumental in driving forward energy efficiency.

Energy Supply: Telecommunications

Angus Brendan MacNeil: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero, with reference to her Department's publication entitled UK Wireless Infrastructure Strategy, published on 11 April 2023, what steps her Department is taking to implement the telecommunications capability required to maintain the resilience of the smart energy grid.

Graham Stuart: Ofcom are carrying out a review of the future communication needs of the utilities (electricity, gas, and water) that is due for publication in Q4 2023-2024. The Department will draw on the recommendations of that report and, if a spectrum solution is recommended, work with the Department for Science Innovation and Technology to assist industry partners in securing the relevant spectrum allocation.

Energy: Payment Methods

Navendu Mishra: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero, what assessment she has made of the implications for her policies of energy companies applying higher tariffs for customers who do not pay through direct debit.

Amanda Solloway: Since July 2023, the Government has used the Energy Price Guarantee (EPG) to provide a discount, so as to levelise prepayment charges with those for direct debit customers. The EPG discount applies until the end of March 2024 and Ofgem is, at the request of Government, currently consulting on proposals to levelise charges from April on an ongoing basis.

Ministry of Justice

Offenders: Disclosure of Information

Ruth Cadbury: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, with reference to page 66 of the Ministry of Justice Annual Report and Accounts 2022-23, published on 28 November 2023, for what reason was there a Disclosure of a spreadsheet containing offender data, by email, in error on 27 January 2023; and if he will make a statement.

Mike Freer: An individual inadvertently forwarded an email to their personal account, which included a spreadsheet containing personal information belonging to others. Once the individual was made aware, they deleted the information immediately and apologised. In line with our regulatory obligations, this incident was reported to the Information Commissioner’s Office. Upon completion of their investigation, the ICO concluded no enforcement action was necessary and the investigation was closed.The MoJ’s Data Protection Team conducted an audit of the incident.  A report was produced and the lessons learned have been shared across MoJ.

Discrimination: Legal Costs

Vicky Foxcroft: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, whether he has made a recent assessment of the potential merits of extending qualified one-way costs shifting to discrimination cases.

Mike Freer: The Government is considering whether to extend Qualified One-Way Costs Shifting to discrimination cases and will set out the way forward in due course.

Ministry of Justice: Employment Tribunals Service

Dr Matthew Offord: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many employment tribunals were brought by employees of their Department in the last 12 months.

Mike Freer: Details of all employment tribunal decision outcomes are available on GOV.UK: https://www.gov.uk/employment-tribunal-decisions.

Ministry of Justice: Official Hospitality

Jon Trickett: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how much his Department spent on hospitality in (a) 2021, (b) 2022 and (c) 2023.

Mike Freer: We do not routinely publish this data, as has been the case under successive administrations. All Business Units within the Ministry of Justice have a responsibility to keep official hospitality costs as low as possible and demonstrate good value for money. Details of ministerial and senior official hospitality are published on a quarterly basis, and are available on GOV.UK

Ministry of Justice: Recruitment

Jonathan Ashworth: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how much his Department spent on external recruitment consultants in the (a) 2020-21, (b) 2021-22 and (c) 2022-23 financial year.

Mike Freer: I can confirm the MoJ has several contracts to deliver external recruitment services over financial years 2020-21, 2021-22 and 2022-23; however, these are not consultant based.  External recruitment agencies and search firms are an important resource which support theCivil Service's ability to recruit - to find talented people, in the right places, with the right capabilities to deliver for the people of the United Kingdom. The Civil Service has developed a number of commercial frameworks which provide transparency, high quality services andvalue for money.The largest of these recruitment service contracts is with TMP Worldwide (Peoplescout) and spend in the financial years requested in summarised below:F/YContract Value2020/21£2,848,3802021/22£7,249,7652022/23£7,449,789 There are other recruitment services contracts which have been awarded over the financial years requested. These are listed below by contract value over the years rather than spend: F/YContract Value2020/21£126,5002021/22£353,1002022/23£238,950

Prisons: Crimes against the Person

Ruth Cadbury: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many (a) charges and (b) successful prosecutions were brought against prisoners for assaults against staff in HM Prison and Probation Service in (a) 2020, (b) 2021, (c) 2022 and (d) 2023.

Edward Argar: HMPPS published the revised Crime in Prison Referral Agreement in October 2022. The agreement to ensure that all acts of criminality that occur in prison are properly addressed within the criminal justice system, particularly in circumstances that indicate that a criminal prosecution is appropriate or where a statutory obligation exists. It is not possible to identify the number of charges and successful prosecutions brought against prisoners for assaults against staff in HM Prison and Probation Service in the last four years as this information is not held centrally. Detailed information may be held on local administrative records, but to be able to identify these cases we would have to access and review all potentially relevant records which would be of disproportionate cost. Statistics on assaults on staff are published quarterly in the Safety in Custody publication, the next release will be on the 25th January 2024.

Prisons: Crimes against the Person

Ruth Cadbury: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what information his Department holds on the number of (a) charges and (b) successful prosecutions brought against prisoners for assaults against staff in private prisons in (a) 2020, (b) 2021, (c) 2022 and (d) 2023.

Edward Argar: HMPPS published the revised Crime in Prison Referral Agreement in October 2022. The agreement to ensure that all acts of criminality that occur in prison are properly addressed within the criminal justice system, particularly in circumstances that indicate that a criminal prosecution is appropriate or where a statutory obligation exists. It is not possible to identify the number of charges and successful prosecutions brought against prisoners for assaults against staff in HM Prison and Probation Service in the last four years as this information is not held centrally. Detailed information may be held on local administrative records, but to be able to identify these cases we would have to access and review all potentially relevant records which would be of disproportionate cost. Statistics on assaults on staff are published quarterly in the Safety in Custody publication, the next release will be on the 25th January 2024.

Housing Loss Prevention Advice Service

Emily Thornberry: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, pursuant to the Answer of 16 November 2023 to Question 1494 on Housing Loss Prevention Advice Service, how much has been paid out to Housing Loss Prevention Advice Service providers for (a) early advice and (b) in court duty assistance as of 11 December 2023.

Emily Thornberry: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, pursuant to the Answer of 16 November 2023 to Question 1493 on Housing Loss Prevention Advice Service, what was the (a) number and (b) value of claims for in court duty assistance by Housing Loss Prevention Advice Service providers as of 11 December 2023.

Emily Thornberry: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, pursuant to the Answer of 16 November 2023 to Question 1492 on Housing Loss Prevention Advice Service, what was the (a) number and (b) value of claims for early advice by Housing Loss Prevention Advice Service providers as of 11 December 2023.

Emily Thornberry: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, with reference to the Legal Aid Agency's guidance entitled Housing loss prevention advice service: guidance for service providers, published on 1 August 2023, how many early legal advice claim forms submitted to his Department between 1 August 2023 and 11 December 2023 have been completed by the outcome codes listed in Annex 2.

Mike Freer: Volume and value of HLPAS matters forms are published as part of the Legal Aid Agency’s official statistics. The first release of official data is scheduled for 21 December.The figures will be in table 1.2. The breakdown for starts/completions by type of work etc. will be in the underlying Legal aid statistics data files.The releases will then follow the publication cycle of quarterly updates and an annual release covering provider level breakdowns. The annual release is published in June of each year.

Prisons: Drugs

Ruth Cadbury: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, with reference to page 32 of his Department's Annual Report and Accounts 2022-23, for what reason the mandatory drug testing panel wasn't updated in 2022-23.

Edward Argar: The Mandatory Drug Testing (MDT) panel is updated when a new drug type is known to be prevalent within the prison estate, or where a new drug poses a significant threat to the safety and security of prison regimes. For the panel to be updated, HMPPS’s contracted drug testing supplier must have the technical capability to accurately test urine samples to obtain results to an evidential standard. Whilst new additions to the MDT panel were identified during 2022/23, preparatory technical work to add these compounds to the panel was not completed within the 2022/23 financial year. These substances have now been added to the MDT panel.

Five Wells Prison: Education

Mary Kelly Foy: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, pursuant to the Answer of 14 November 2023 to Question 1241 on Five Wells Prison: Education, how (a) many hours of teaching time were lost and (b) much money was recovered from education providers as a result of prison education classes not going ahead in HMP Five Wells in each of the last two quarters.

Mary Kelly Foy: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, pursuant to the Answer of 14 November 2023 to Question 1242 on Garth Prison: Education, how (a) many hours of teaching time were lost and (b) much money was recovered from education providers as a result of prison education classes not going ahead in HMP Garth in each of the last two quarters.

Mary Kelly Foy: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, pursuant to the Answer of 14 November 2023 to Question 1243 on Bristol Prison: Education, how (a) many hours of teaching time were lost and (b) much money was recovered from education providers as a result of prison education classes not going ahead in HMP Bristol in each of the last two quarters.

Mary Kelly Foy: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, pursuant to the Answer of 14 November 2023 to Question 1244 on Pentonville Prison: Education, how (a) many hours of teaching time were lost and (b) much money was recovered from education providers as a result of prison education classes not going ahead in HMP Pentonville in each of the last two quarters.

Mary Kelly Foy: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, pursuant to the Answer of 14 November 2023 to Question 1245 on Ranby Prison: Education, how (a) many hours of teaching time were lost and (b) much money was recovered from education providers as a result of prison education classes not going ahead in HMP Ranby in each of the last two quarters.

Mary Kelly Foy: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, pursuant to the Answer of 14 November 2023 to Question 1241 on Five Wells Prison: Education, how many staff of (a) HMPPS and (b) his Department's staff work on recovering money from education providers; and to what budget the money recovered is credited.

Edward Argar: We have introduced robust contractual levers into the current education contract which has seen a decrease in the teaching time lost through the education provider. The introduction at site level of Heads of Education, Skills and Work will increase the focus on ensure operational staff are able to ensure learners arrive in education. The table below sets out the information requested for HMP Garth, HMP Bristol, HMP Pentonville, and HMP Ranby, for the first quarter of 2023-24. The data for Quarter 2 are in the process of quality assurance and validation, and are not currently available. The education contract for HMP Five Wells is not managed by HMPPS. The information requested in relation to HMP Five Wells is therefore not available. Quarter 1 2023-24 PrisonEducation hours lostGarth397.5Bristol187Pentonville496Ranby812 PrisonAmount recoverable from the provider (£)Garth4,998Bristol1,681Pentonville10,612Ranby17,906

Community Orders

James Wild: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many and what proportion of community sentences were completed (a) successfully and (b) unsuccessfully due to (i) the committal of an additional offence and (ii) a breach of sentence stipulations in each of the last five years.

Edward Argar: We have increased funding for the Probation Service by an additional £155m a year to recruit staff and to deliver better and more consistent supervision of offenders in the community. The data shows that since 2018, the proportion of successfully completed community sentences has increased from 70% to 74%. Please find the full dataset requested in the accompanying table. Delivering public protection and cutting crime is not just about custody. There is persuasive evidence that suspended and community sentences are more effective than short custodial sentences in reducing reoffending and promoting rehabilitation. Community sentences can include a range of robust requirements to punish the offender, protect the public and deliver rehabilitation. Electronic monitoring of curfews, exclusion zones, attendance at appointments, location monitoring and alcohol bans are all available requirements which the courts can use. Courts can also impose up to 300 hours of unpaid work to make sure that offenders are visibly and publicly making reparations for their crimes. Any breach of these requirements could see them returned to court and face immediate custody. Please note that where there is a significant risk of harm to an individual or where the offender has breached an order of the court, the courts will retain full discretion to impose a sentence of immediate custody. Data sources and quality:The figures in this table have been drawn from administrative IT systems which, as with any large-scale recording system, are subject to possible errors with data entry and processing. Source:National Delius case management system.Table (xlsx, 21.7KB)

Prisons: Drugs

Ruth Cadbury: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, with reference to page 32 of his Department's Annual Report and Accounts 2022-23, what his planned timetable is for when random mandatory drug testing will return to the levels required to estimate national drug use in prisons.

Edward Argar: All random mandatory drug testing (rMDT) in prisons were paused in March 2020 following the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic. Low levels of testing resumed from September 2020 in line with the National Framework for managing COVID-19. rMDT levels have not yet returned to pre-pandemic levels due to operational and staffing pressures in prisons. We will keep performance under close review.Prisons continue to have a zero-tolerance culture, and any prisoner suspected of taking illicit substances can still be subjected to a mandatory drug test. As part of the ambitious cross-Government Drug Strategy, we are rolling out a range of interventions to support prisoners off drugs and into recovery, such as doubling the number of Incentivised Substance-Free Living wings, and supporting prisoners to engage with community treatment pre-release. We are also committed to tackling the supply of drugs into prison and our £100m Security Investment Programme delivered 75 additional X-ray body scanners, resulting in full coverage across the closed male estate. 84 X-ray baggage scanners have also been installed at 45 prisons and 4 learning centres, building on the rollout of our body scanners, drug trace detection machines and metal detection archways.

Prisons: Crimes against the Person

Ruth Cadbury: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what information his Department holds on the number of assaults against prison staff in private prisons in (a) 2020, (b) 2021, (c) 2022 and (d) 2023.

Edward Argar: Data on the number of assaults against prison staff, including in private prisons, are published as part of our Safety in Custody statistics, available at the following link (found in table 8e in the summary tables):Safety in custody: quarterly update to June 2023 - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)Please note that figures for 2023 are currently available up to June.

Community Orders: Pilot Schemes

Emily Thornberry: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, with reference to his Department's publication entitled Community Payback Rapid Deployment Projects Management Information release to 17th October 2023, published on 31 October 2023, how many people completed unpaid work on the pilots between 18 October 2023 and 11 December 2023; and how many hours of unpaid work were completed.

Edward Argar: Between 18th October 2023 and 10th December 2023, 175 people completed 1,924 hours of unpaid work on the Community Payback Rapid Deployment project pilots (Project Clean Streets). Explanatory noteThe request for data is up to 11 December, however, only data up until week ending 10 December is available to include. Data for 11 December is not yet fully recorded on our systems. The data is sourced in nDelius, the Case Management System used by the Probation Service. Although care is taken when processing and analysing these data, the information collected is subject to the inaccuracies inherent in any large-scale recording system. While the figures shown have been checked as far as practicable, they should be regarded as approximate and not necessarily accurate to the last whole number shown in the tables.

Probation

Mr Gregory Campbell: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, with reference to the Answer of 6 March 2023 to Question HL5679,on Prisoners, what recent discussions he has had with the Chief Inspector of Probation on his timetable for completing the requested inspection of proportionality of recall decisions for people who are imprisoned for public protection.

Edward Argar: As Minister of State for Prisons and Probation, I met with the interim Chief Inspector of Probation on 6 December 2023, where the Inspectorate’s upcoming report on the thematic inspections of imprisonment for public protection (IPP) recall decisions was discussed. His Majesty’s Inspectorate of Probation are due to publish their report on the thematic inspections of IPP recall decisions before the end of the year.

Reoffenders

Ruth Cadbury: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many serious further offences were committed in each year since 2020-21.

Ruth Cadbury: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many serious further offence reviews were carried out by the Probation Service in each year since 2018.

Edward Argar: Figures on the number of serious further offences committed (convictions) up to 2021/22 are published annually, which can be accessed at the following link. Serious_Further_Offences_bulletin_2023.pdf (publishing.service.gov.uk). Figures for 2022/23 will be published in October 2024. Figures are published based on the date of SFO notification (charge) received by HMPPS. The lag between the date of publication and the conviction figures is to allow time for most cases to complete the criminal justice process. Figures for the number of serious further offence reviews completed by the probation Service are published annually, which can be accessed at the following link. Serious_Further_Offences_bulletin_2023.pdf (publishing.service.gov.uk). The review figures are available by financial year up to 31 March 2023. Serious further offences are incredibly rare, with fewer than 0.5% of offenders supervised by the Probation Service going on to commit serious further offences but each one is investigated fully so we can take action where necessary. We have also injected extra funding of more than £155 million a year into the Probation Service to deliver tougher supervision, reduce caseloads and recruit thousands more staff to keep the public safer.

Werrington Young Offender Institution: Abuse

Janet Daby: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many allegations of abuse have been made at Werrington Young Offender Institution in the last 12 months.

Edward Argar: In the period November 2022 to October 2023 – the most recent 12 months for which data are available – HMYOI Werrington made 63 safeguarding referrals relating to allegations of physical or sexual abuse.The figure represents alleged abuse rather than substantiated findings of abuse. Some referrals could refer to historical abuse and therefore may refer to incidents which have occurred outside of custody. There are a small number of instances where professionals have raised concerns about a child when the child has not reported any concerns. The YCS takes all allegations of abuse seriously and ensures that safeguarding is at the forefront of what we do. We have published a new policy framework ‘Safeguarding and Child Protection in the Youth Custody Service’, which ensures that everyone involved in the care and management of children in the youth estate understand their safeguarding responsibilities. All of our Youth Custody Service (YCS) sites have a safety strategy and there are teams of resolution practitioners based in each site who apply the principles of Restorative Practice to resolve conflict between various parties, thereby reducing the need for restrictive interventions and enabling a child’s engagement in all other opportunities available whilst in our care. YCS staff also receive specialist training while they do their job of keeping young people safe and giving them better life chances. Where we have concerns about high levels of violence at a specific site, we take further action with the central safety team in the YCS, who provide additional support and independent scrutiny to aid improvement. In this period, the YCS have supported Werrington YOI in improving their performance outcomes around safety, and due to positive signs of improvement, the need to provide this extra layer of support will be stood down in the near future.

Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities

Local Government: Debt Collection

Navendu Mishra: To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, whether his Department has issued guidance to local authorities in England on the use of debt collection agencies.

Simon Hoare: The Department published guidance on good practice in the collection of council tax arrears in 2013 and best practice guidance on council tax collection in 2021. The guidance encourages councils to be sympathetic to those in genuine hardship and proportionate in taking enforcement action.

Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities: Public Expenditure

Helen Morgan: To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, what the underspend by his Department was for (a) affordable housing, (b) social housing, (c) planning department reform and (d) local authorities in the last 12 months.

Simon Hoare: DLUHC financial information is reported to parliament, on a financial year basis, through our Annual Report and Accounts and Supply Estimate reports, which can be found here and here.

Hate Crime

Mr Gregory Campbell: To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, how many crimes were reported on the True Vision website in the last 12 months.

Lee Rowley: The information requested is not held centrally.

Levelling Up Fund: Easington

Grahame Morris: To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, pursuant to the Answer of 11 December 2023 to Question 5542 on Levelling Up Fund: County Durham, what proportion of the funding identified in his response was allocated to Easington Constituency.

Jacob Young: County Durham has benefited from a range of funds totalling almost £100 million that will bring significant benefits to the whole area, including the constituency of Easington. The funds referenced in my answer on 11 December are allocated to local institutions at different geographies including the County Durham authority area and wider, depending on the nature of the fund. This funding mix allows local organisations to determine the areas and priorities to direct investment towards their key priorities

Chanukah

Andrew Rosindell: To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, whether his Department has taken recent steps with local authorities to help ensure that the Jewish community is able to publicly celebrate Hanukkah.

Simon Hoare: I hope Jewish people across the country are able to celebrate Chanukah, and that local authorities stand in unity with their Jewish communities so that they can celebrate safely. The Secretary of State recently wished the Jewish community a happy Chanukah and made clear that this Government will do all that it can to uphold the freedom and security of Jewish people here in the UK and beyond.

Department for Transport

Motorcycles: Carbon Emissions

Sir Bill Wiggin: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, when he plans to publish a response to his Department's consultation on L-category vehicles: ending sales of new non-zero emission models.

Sir Bill Wiggin: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, with reference to his Department's consultation on L-category vehicles: ending sales of new non-zero emission models, what assessment he has made of the potential impact of proposals to phase out new non-zero emission L-category vehicles by 2035 on the commercial viability of (a) L-category manufacturers building zero emission L-category vehicles and (b) consumers purchasing those vehicles.

Sir Bill Wiggin: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, if he will publish an assessment of the potential impact of his Department's proposals to phase out new non zero emission L-category vehicles on (a) manufacturers and (b) importers of mopeds and motorcycles.

Anthony Browne: The consultation on when to end the sale of new non-zero emission L-category vehicles was supported by a thorough programme of stakeholder engagement with manufacturers and the wider industry. We are now analysing the responses and will bring forward the Government’s response in due course.We are working closely with industry to ensure a prosperous future for L-category manufacturers in the UK. In February 2022, the Motorcycle Industry Association and Zemo Partnership published a government-commissioned action plan, namely “Realising the Full Potential of Zero Emission Powered Light Vehicles”, to support the transition to zero emission L-category vehicles. The Government also recently made £350,000 of funding available to grow the zero emission motorcycle supply chain in the UK.Government policies are already in place to support the transition to zero emission vehicles. However, the Government appreciates that there are technology and infrastructure considerations for these vehicles as they transition and will continue to work with the sector to support and examine how to best overcome demand side challenges, including the infrastructure needs of zero emission L-category vehicles.

Railways: Hereford

Jesse Norman: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, of the cancelled direct train services between London and Hereford in the last six months, what proportion of cancellations were caused by matters relating to (a) Great Western Railway and (b) Network Rail.

Huw Merriman: In the last six months, 9.94% of Great Western Railway’s (GWR’s) direct London to Hereford services were cancelled. GWR confirm that 38.7% of these cancellations were caused by matters relating to Network Rail, and 3.8% because of other train operators. I have asked GWR to write to you directly with the full set of data in due course.

Avanti West Coast: Contracts

Justin Madders: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, with reference to the Answer of 26 October 2023 to Question 204030 on Avanti West Coast: Contracts, what the (a) time constraints and (b) market conditions were that meant open competition for the contract was considered unviable.

Huw Merriman: A competition for a contract of this nature can take 2 to 3 years once a contract and procurement process has been agreed. When emergency agreements ended there was significant market instability arising from the ongoing impacts of covid and industrial action, meaning a competitive tender was unlikely to deliver value for money. When options for West Coast Partnership’s latest contract were considered, these factors informed the decision to make a direct award rather than compete.

Chalkwell Station: Access

Anna Firth: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what plans his Department has to improve accessibility at Chalkwell station.

Huw Merriman: Network Rail have now completed the design for an Access for All scheme at Chalkwell station. A delivery contractor was appointed on 8 December and a date for the start of works on site will be confirmed shortly.

Railway Stations: Disability

Anna Firth: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what steps he is taking to ensure train stations are wheelchair accessible.

Huw Merriman: As part of the Prime Minister’s Network North announcement in October, the Government confirmed £350m will be made available to improve the accessibility of Britain’s train stations. We are assessing over 300 nominations for funding from April 2024 as part of the Access for All programme. At stations awarded funding we will deliver an obstacle free, accessible route from the station entrance to platforms. Successful nominations will be announced in due course.

Railway Stations: Access

Ruth Cadbury: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, with reference to the Answer of 11 September 2023 to Question 196013, whether his Department plans to announce the successful applications for the Access for All funding by the end of 2023.

Huw Merriman: As part of our recent Network North announcement, the Government confirmed £350m will be made available to improve the accessibility of our train stations. We are assessing over 300 nominations for Access for All funding beyond 2024. At stations awarded funding this will create an obstacle free, accessible route from the station entrance to platforms. Successful nominations will be announced in due course.

Transport

Paul Girvan: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, with reference to his Department's policy paper entitled Union connectivity review: final report, published on 26 November 2021, what progress he has made in implementing recommendation 3.

Huw Merriman: The Union Connectivity Review was an independent review, led by Lord Peter Hendy of Richmond Hill. We agree that high quality data across all transport modes in the UK are vital for managing capacity, ensuring safety and future transport planning. We are considering the current scope of data collection with a view to expanding it where possible and beneficial. This will include improving collaborative working with the devolved administrations on data sharing. For example, improving the collection of UK-wide data was discussed at the Transport Inter-Ministerial Group in May. Ministers have asked officials from all administrations to conduct an audit of existing data sharing arrangements and look for areas of improvement and further collaboration.

Transport: Northern Ireland

Paul Girvan: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what recent discussions his Department has had with the Department for Infrastructure in Northern Ireland on the union connectivity review.

Huw Merriman: Officials from the Department for Transport regularly engage with their counterparts in Northern Ireland’s Department for Infrastructure on the recommendations made by Lord Peter Hendy’s Union Connectivity Review (UCR). The UK Government’s response to the UCR was published on 7 December 2023 and outlined UK Government funding of £4.8m to support the recommendations made for improved rail connections in Northern Ireland, including £700k for a feasibility study on reopening the Antrim to Lisburn railway line with an additional stop at Belfast International Airport.

Railways: Alstom

Stephen Morgan: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, if he will commit to meeting with Unite the Union to discuss working collaboratively to prevent the loss of rail manufacturing jobs at Alstom and its supply chain.

Huw Merriman: We are in close discussions with Alstom about its plans for the future of its Derby site and about the potential for redundancies among its workforce and onsite contractors. I will be meeting with Unite the Union on 19th December to discuss what action can be taken to keep the Derby site open and minimise the loss of rail manufacturing jobs.

Railways: Alstom

Stephen Morgan: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, whether he is taking steps to (a) prevent the closure of the Alstom factory, (b) protect jobs (i) at and (ii) in the supply chain for the Alstom factory.

Huw Merriman: We are in close discussion with Alstom to explore options to help it find a viable and sustainable long-term solution for its Derby site, which have been ongoing since the summer. The Secretary of State wrote to rolling stock owners in September to encourage them to discuss with train operators and manufacturers opportunities such as refurbishments or major overhauls to ease short-term challenges in the supply chain. My Department has also established a cross-Departmental group to advise on ways to support continued production at Derby and to develop plans for supporting Alstom’s employees, and those of its contractors and suppliers, should Alstom decide to cease manufacturing at the site.

Buses: Exhaust Emissions

Louise Haigh: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, with reference to the Answer of 14 September 2023 to Question 198772 on Buses: Exhaust Emissions, if he will publish a breakdown by local authority of funding provided for retrofitting buses under the (a) Clean Bus Technology Fund and (b) NO2 programme since 2017.

Guy Opperman: There are no current plans to publish a complete breakdown of the funding awarded to each local authority for bus retrofits.

High Speed 2 Line: Redundancy

Stephen Morgan: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what assessment he has made of the potential impact of the decision to cancel Phase 2 of HS2 on jobs at (a) the Alstom site in Derby and (b) around the country.

Huw Merriman: (a) Alstom are in a JV with Hitachi to build the HS2 rolling stock for phase 1 only and did not have a contract for any works on phase 2 of HS2.(b) The large majority of jobs on the programme are currently working on the delivery of Phase 1 between Birmingham and London. The new investment plans outlined in Network North will provide significant opportunities for contractual work around the country, providing job opportunities in a number of sectors across the range of projects in the delivery pipeline.

Elizabeth Line and Southeastern: Repairs and Maintenance

Stephen Morgan: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, whether he has made an assessment of the potential merits of ensuring that the cross Whitehall task force to bring in mitigations against redundancies will also consider bringing forward existing refurbishment contracts for (a) Southeastern Rail and (b) Crossrail trains.

Huw Merriman: The cross-Whitehall group established by the Department for Transport is working to ensure that UK rolling stock manufacturing has a strong and sustainable future. As part of this work, my officials are exploring a wide range of options, including whether the timetable for certain procurements can be brought forward for both new and refurbished rolling stock.

Railways: Hereford

Jesse Norman: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, how many and what proportion of direct trains from London Paddington to Hereford have been cancelled in the last six months, by (a) day of the week and (b) time of day.

Huw Merriman: In the last six months, 44 direct trains from London Paddington to Hereford have been cancelled, and 18 part-cancelled usually meaning termination at Worcester or Great Malvern. This equates to proportions of 4.55% on Mondays, 5.68% on Tuesdays, 10.12% on Wednesdays, 11.73% on Thursdays, 14.04% on Fridays, 10.19% on Saturdays and 16.33% on Sundays. The greatest proportion of cancellations by time have been seen during the hours of 0900-1000, 1100-1200 and 1900-2000. I have asked Great Western Railway to write to you directly with the full set of data in due course.

Roads: Birmingham

Tahir Ali: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, whether he has made an assessment of the potential impact of the time taken to make a decision on the Birmingham Highways Maintenance and Management PFI contract on (a) the total funding and (b) maintenance of Birmingham Highways.

Guy Opperman: The Government has funded Birmingham City Council’s Highways Maintenance contract at £50.3 million a year for 13 years and will continue to do so, maintaining the current level of funding to the council at £50 million a year for the remainder of the current spending review period until 2023/24.After this time, West Midlands Combined Authority (WMCA) will become eligible for an additional share of the £8.3 billion as the £151 million for WMCA did not previously include an allocation for Birmingham City Council’s roads. This is part of the £2.2 billion wider funding for East Midlands and West Midlands.This is in addition to the £1bn of CRSTS funding to WMCA up to 2026/27, and CRSTS 2 indicative funding of over £2.6billion over 5 years from 2027/28 to 2031/32.

Pedicabs: Safety

Nickie Aiken: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what steps he is taking with Transport for London to help ensure the safe operation of pedicabsinLondon.

Guy Opperman: The Government is introducing the Pedicabs (London) Bill which will give Transport for London powers to regulate London’s pedicab industry. This Bill, which corrects a longstanding legal anomaly in London, will ensure that passengers, pedestrians and other road users can go about their daily business in the Capital safe in the knowledge that these vehicles and their operators are properly licensed and fully regulated.

Transport: Scotland

Kenny MacAskill: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what discussions he has had with the Scottish Government on the distribution of funding previously allocated to HS2.

Huw Merriman: Departmental officials meet regularly with Scottish counterparts to discuss transport. Network North includes funding for schemes which will support Scotland, including funding to deliver targeted improvements on the A75 between Gretna and Stranraer and to complete dualling of the A1 from Morpeth to Ellingham.

Transport: Finance

Giles Watling: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what his planned timetable is for the distribution of funding previously allocated to HS2.

Huw Merriman: In October, the Prime Minister announced that the full £36bn saved from HS2 up to 2041 will be reallocated with £19.8 billion for the North, £9.6 billion for the Midlands and £6.5 billion for the rest of the country.

Heathrow Airport: Railways

Mr Tanmanjeet Singh Dhesi: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what recent assessment he has made of the potential merits of building the Western Rail Link to Heathrow.

Huw Merriman: This Government remains committed to improving rail access to Heathrow Airport and recognises the importance of the improved rail connectivity that a Western rail link could provide. However, we need to ensure that the projects we take forward reflect the changed shape of rail demand and are affordable. I understand that the promoters of a Western rail link continue to update their proposals.

Transport: Scotland

Wendy Chamberlain: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what discussions he has had with Cabinet colleagues on the adequacy of funding for transport infrastructure in Scotland.

Huw Merriman: The Secretary of State has regular discussions with Cabinet colleagues on funding for transport infrastructure in Scotland, as well as with the Scottish Government and other stakeholders.In addition to the block grant, the UK Government provides funding for Scottish transport schemes through a variety of sources, including the recently announced Levelling Up Fund, and has announced further funding in our Network North plan and our response to Lord Hendy of Richmond Hill’s Union Connectivity Review.

Buses: Exhaust Emissions

Liz Twist: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what assessment he has made of the adequacy of funding for zero and low emission buses.

Guy Opperman: Since February 2020, an estimated 4,200 Zero Emission Buses (ZEBs) have been funded across the UK, including 1,300 ZEBs supported by £280m through the ZEBRA 1 programme. We announced a further £129m in September 2023 under the ZEBRA 2 programme. My department has an ongoing monitoring and evaluation project for ZEBRA. An interim evaluation report was published in June 2023.

Driving under Influence: Scotland

Kenny MacAskill: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, if he will make an assessment of the potential merits of devolving powers to the Scottish Parliament to vary penalties for drink driving in line with lower drink driving limits in Scotland.

Guy Opperman: There are no plans to do this at present.

Roads: Shrewsbury

Daniel Kawczynski: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what assessment he has made of the potential impact of the building of the North West Relief Road on congestion in Shrewsbury.

Guy Opperman: The Department for Transport continues to work with local stakeholders, including the MP and Shropshire Council, and is currently awaiting receipt of the Full Business Case (FBC). The scheme, along with its impact, will be assessed by my department once Shropshire Council submit the FBC.

Driving: Health

Justin Madders: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what information his Department holds on the number of vehicle collisions which resulted in an injury that were (a) caused and (b) partly caused by a medical episode experienced by a driver.

Guy Opperman: DfT reported road casualty statistics reports numbers of personal injury road traffic collisions in Great Britain that were reported to the police using the STATS19 reporting system. STATS19 does not record the causes of collisions. However, attending police officers can record up to six factors that they believe contributed to collisions as part of the STATS19 dataset. Officers do not need to carry out a full investigation of the collision before allocating factors, usually using professional judgement about what they can see at the scene. In 2022, there were 1,930 road collisions for which police assigned ‘Illness or disability, mental or physical’ of a driver or rider as a contributory factor towards the collision. This contributory factor ‘Illness or disability, mental or physical’ is defined as a driver or rider either suddenly overcome by illness (e.g., fit or blackout) or generally affected by illness (e.g., cold or flu), or suffering from a permanent disability, which contributed to the collision. This also includes where a driver or rider sneezing or coughing contributes to the collision, as well as poor mental health (e.g., depression).

Transport: Portsmouth South

Stephen Morgan: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what steps he is taking to improve transport for young people in Portsmouth South constituency.

Guy Opperman: My department has provided financial support for Portsmouth City Council to deliver a number of transport schemes that everyone in the community can benefit from. These include: £58 million from the Transforming Cities Fund, that will provide greater travel choices by improving public and sustainable transport in the city.£48 million in for Bus Service Improvement Plan funding for more frequent, accessible and greener transport.£1.32 million since 2020, under the Government’s Active Travel Fund that supports local transport authorities with producing cycling and walking facilities. The £2 bus fare cap benefits all bus passengers throughout the country.

Roads: Safety

James Morris: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what steps he is taking to help improve the safety of residential roads.

Guy Opperman: We have some of the safest roads in the world, but we are not complacent.The Department for Transport provides guidance to LTAs on various traffic management measures which impact road safety. A collection of these can be found at https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/local-transport-notes.Guidance provided by the Department for LTAs is kept updated to maintain the highest road safety standards possible. The responsibility for making decisions about the roads under its care, including measures to improve the safety of residential roads, sits with the relevant Local Traffic Authority (LTA).

Roads: Birmingham

Tahir Ali: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what his planned timetable is for providing feedback on the Full Business Case for the Birmingham Highways Maintenance and Management PFI contract, submitted to his Department by Birmingham City Council and Birmingham Highways Ltd in August 2023.

Guy Opperman: The Government has funded Birmingham City Council’s Highways Maintenance contract at £50.3 million a year for 13 years and will continue to do so, maintaining the current level of funding to the council at £50 million a year for the remainder of the current spending review period until 2023/24.After this time, West Midlands Combined Authority (WMCA) will become eligible for an additional share of the £8.3 billion as the £151 million for WMCA did not previously include an allocation for Birmingham City Council’s roads. This is part of the £2.2 billion wider funding for East Midlands and West Midlands.This is in addition to the £1bn of CRSTS funding to WMCA up to 2026/27, and CRSTS 2 indicative funding of over £2.6billion over 5 years from 2027/28 to 2031/32.

Treasury

Treasury: Recruitment

Jonathan Ashworth: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, how much his Department spent on external recruitment consultants in the (a) 2020-21, (b) 2021-22 and (c) 2022-23 financial year.

Gareth Davies: Consistent to answers given to written questions on 28 March 2023, 23 February 2023 and 17 May 2022, the information requested on external recruitment consultant expenditure is not available as we do not centrally hold data with this level of granularity on recruitment costs for the financial years in question.

Tax Collection

Dan Carden: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, how many full time equivalent HM Revenue and Customs staff worked on tax compliance activity in each of the last five financial years.

Nigel Huddleston: The average full-time equivalents (FTE) in HMRC currently working on tax compliance activity is 17,300: We are unable to provide the previous years of data as it is not currently available, and therefore this information would only be available at disproportionate cost. Within Customer Compliance Group staff are deployed across a wide range of compliance risks. Internally, these are usually grouped by customer segment, tax head or specific tax risk being worked. HMRC publishes information on the amounts spent on compliance by customer segment in our annual report and accounts at Tax by different customer groups – 2022 to 2023 - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk). The information for 2023/24 will be available in 2024. HMRC does not release detailed breakdowns of this information for operational reasons.

Income Tax (Earnings and Pensions) Act 2003

Neil Coyle: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, whether he plans to clarify the guidance his Department has issued on the Income Tax (Earnings and Pensions) Act 2003.

Neil Coyle: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, whether his Department has made an assessment of the effectiveness of the appeals process for the Income Tax (Earnings and Pensions) Act 2003.

Neil Coyle: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what steps his Department takes to help ensure that (a) companies and (b) other organisations accurately determine whether someone is self-employed for tax purposes under the Income Tax (Earnings and Pensions) Act 2003 guidance.

Nigel Huddleston: To help customers make an informed decision on a worker’s status for tax, HMRC provides comprehensive online guidance that explains the relevant factors and tests and how to apply them. HMRC also provides its digital Check Employment Status for Tax (CEST) tool to support employers and workers determine the employment status of an engagement. The Income Tax (Earnings and Pensions) Act 2003 contains a number of provisions related to appeal rights and determining disputes. In 2021, the Government introduced a disagreement process to allow workers to challenge the status determination they have been given under the off payroll working rules with their engager. The Government keeps all tax policy and legislation under review. HMRC regularly reviews its guidance products and amends or adds to them where this improves the content or customer experience. For example, HMRC has recently published guidelines for compliance to help organisations comply with the Off-Payroll Working rules contained in Chapter 10 of Income Tax (Earnings and Pensions) Act 2003.

Leader of the House

Leader of the House: Official Hospitality

Jon Trickett: To ask the Leader of the House, how much her office spent on hospitality in (a) 2021, (b) 2022 and (c) 2023.

Penny Mordaunt: We do not routinely publish this data, as has been the case under successive administrations. All Business Units within the Cabinet Office have a responsibility to keep official hospitality costs as low as possible and demonstrate good value for money.Details of ministerial and senior official hospitality are published on a quarterly basis, and are available on GOV.UK.

Attorney General

Conversion Therapy

Peter Gibson: To ask the Attorney General, if she will have discussions with Cabinet colleagues on the potential application of the Offences Against the person Act 1861 in tackling the use of conversion practices with LGBT people.

Robert Courts: The Law Officers' Convention enables the Attorney General and I to have frank discussions with our Ministerial colleagues.The Law Officers' Convention means that we cannot disclose whether or not we have advised on a legal issue or whether we will do so in the future.

Conversion Therapy

Peter Gibson: To ask the Attorney General, whether his Department has issued guidance to the (a) police and (b) Crown Prosecution Service on using existing legislation to tackle conversion practices against LGBT People.

Robert Courts: The police are the responsibility of the Home Office.While the Attorney General's Office superintends the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS), the CPS are operationally independent. The CPS bring prosecutions in line with the Code for Crown prosecutors.The Attorney General's Office has not issued any guidance to the CPS.

Government Legal Department: Standards

Sir George Howarth: To ask the Attorney General, whether her Department has (a) procedures and (b) notification systems in place for potential errors made by the Government Legal Department (GLD); whether errors by the GLD are recorded; whether financial losses arising from errors made by the GLD are recovered from the GLD; whether processes are in place to ensure that citizens receive redress when there has been a failure to process (i) applications, (ii) court orders and (iii) other maladministration by HM Courts and Tribunals Service; who in her Department is responsible for identifying and recording errors by the GLD; and what records her Department maintains of (A) apologies, (B) payments of compensation and (C) other matters relating to the GLD.

Robert Courts: Where members of the public wish to raise a complaint about the Government Legal Department (GLD) or any of its staff, there is a relevant complaints procedure. Complaints will be investigated in accordance with the GLD complaints policy, which is available at https://www.gov.uk/government/organisations/government-legal-department/about/complaints-procedure#:~:text=Examples%20of%20maladministration-,What%20to%20do%20if%20you%20have%20a%20complaint,from%20receipt%20of%20your%20complaint.There is then a right of appeal to the Treasury Solicitor. If the appellant is not satisfied with the department’s reply, and they feel that they have sustained injustice as a result of maladministration, they can consider bringing the matter to the Parliamentary Commissioner for Administration (the Ombudsman).The Ombudsman can recommend that organisations make payments if a complainant has sustained financial loss or to acknowledge the complainant’s distress. However, the Ombudsman will not investigate complaints where the complainant has the option to pursue legal action.The Attorney General and Treasury Solicitor also meet regularly to discuss performance and serious errors can be flagged.HM Courts & Tribunals Service (HMCTS) has an administrative complaints procedure that allows citizens to complain about administrative failures to process applications and court orders or other maladministration. If HMCTS receives a complaint then it will investigate and take steps to put things right where any administrative error has been made. More information about this complaints process is available at https://www.gov.uk/government/organisations/hm-courts-and-tribunals-service/about/complaints-procedure.

Department for Education

Work Experience

Rachael Maskell: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, if she will take steps to help enable opportunities for pupils to undertake work experience with local employers in-between their studies.

Robert Halfon: Secondary schools and colleges are expected to adopt the government’s careers framework, the Gatsby Benchmarks of Good Career Guidance, to develop and improve their careers programmes. The benchmarks describe eight aspects of high-quality careers guidance based on international evidence. A link to the guidance can be found here: https://www.gatsby.org.uk/education/focus-areas/good-career-guidance. Gatsby Benchmark 6 sets out that every pupil should have first-hand experiences of the workplace through work visits, work shadowing and/or work experience to help their exploration of career opportunities and expand their networks. The criteria for meeting the benchmark are that by the age of 16, every pupil should have had at least one experience of a workplace, additional to any part-time jobs they may have. By the age of 18, every pupil should have had one further such experience, additional to any part-time jobs they may have. The proportion of schools and colleges fully achieving Gatsby Benchmark 6 has increased from 37% in 2017/18 to 64% in 2022/23. The department is funding The Careers & Enterprise Company to support schools and colleges, through their network of local Careers Hubs, to deliver experiences of workplaces. Funding for 2023/24 will deliver three distinct strands of activity:High-quality work experience for up to 15,000 young people with the greatest economic disadvantage.Experiences with 20 employers from key growth sectors for up to 5,000 young people with a guarantee of a high-quality mock interview.Virtual experiences for year 7-9 pupils in up to 600 institutions in coastal and rural areas.The department will ensure that all of the learning and good practice from this work is disseminated widely and will inform future policy on work experience.

Pupil Exclusions: Mental Health

Rachael Maskell: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, if she will make an estimate of how many children suspended from schools (a) have mental health issues and (b) are neurodivergent.

Damian Hinds: The department does not hold the data on what proportion of children suspended from school have mental health issues and/or are neurodivergent, which means this cannot be estimated. The department does, however, hold and publish data on the characteristics of pupils suspended from schools in England, including suspensions for pupils with Special Educational Needs and Disabilities (SEND) where categories of need will include those such as social, emotional and mental health needs and autistic spectrum disorder. The most recent data available is for the 2021/22 academic year and is available at: https://explore-education-statistics.service.gov.uk/find-statistics/permanent-and-fixed-period-exclusions-in-england/2021-22-summer-term.Creating school cultures with high expectations of behaviour is a priority for the government.The department has published updated guidance on Behaviour in Schools, Mental Health and Behaviour in Schools, and Suspension and Permanent Exclusion statutory guidance (Exclusion guidance), in response to the recommendation made by the Timpson Review of School Exclusion. These documents provide further clarity and support for head teachers on how to manage behaviour well for all pupils in the school community. The documents are available at the following links:https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/651d42d86a6955001278b2af/Behaviour_in_schools_guidance.pdfhttps://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/625ee6148fa8f54a8bb65ba9/Mental_health_and_behaviour_in_schools.pdfhttps://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/1181584/Suspension_and_permanent_exclusion_guidance_september_23.pdf.The updated Exclusion guidance is clear that head teachers should consider any underlying causes of misbehaviour before issuing an exclusion, including a pupil’s SEND or mental health related issues. The department’s guidance, 'Understanding your data: a guide for school governors and academy trustees’ also makes clear governing boards should carefully consider the level and characteristics of pupils who are leaving the school and deploy maximum challenge to the school on any permanent exclusions to ensure it is only used as a last resort. The guidance is available at: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/understanding-your-data-a-guide-for-school-governors-and-academy-trustees/understanding-your-data-a-guide-for-school-governors-and-academy-trustees.The department supports head teachers in using suspension and permanent exclusion as a sanction where warranted as part of creating calm, safe, and supportive environments where pupils and staff can work in safety and are respected.

Special Educational Needs

Matt Hancock: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps she is taking to encourage the adoption of the Nuffield Early Language Intervention programme in all state schools.

Matt Hancock: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps her Department is taking to help (a) promote awareness among headteachers and (b) increase the uptake of the Nuffield Early Language Intervention programme.

Matt Hancock: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps her Department is taking to provide (a) support and (b) incentives to state schools to use the Nuffield Early Language Intervention programme.

Matt Hancock: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps her Department is taking to help increase the take-up of the Nuffield Early Language Intervention programme by schools in the most disadvantaged areas.

Damian Hinds: The Nuffield Early Language Intervention (NELI) programme, which is part of the department’s education recovery response, has played an important role in improving children’s language and communication skills following the COVID-19 pandemic. In September 2023, the Education Endowment Foundation published an independent evaluation of the programme’s impacts in 2021/22. This demonstrated that children who received the programme made on average the equivalent of four months’ progress in language skills, compared to children who did not receive NELI. Pupils eligible for free school meals made additional progress on average of seven months. It is rare to see this sort of impact from an educational programme on a national level, which is a fantastic testament to all those involved in delivering it to children over the last three years. Since the programme was launched in 2020, just over 11,100 schools, over two thirds of all primaries, have signed up to deliver NELI. To increase the reach of the programme, the department has confirmed it will be funding all registered schools to continue delivering the programme in the 2023/24 academic year. To promote awareness and encourage uptake, the delivery partner will be engaging all registered schools through a mixture of regular communications, support, and targeted outreach. Furthermore, the department is working with the supplier on steps to engage and promote NELI to all schools this academic year and currently scoping activity for the 2024/25 academic year and beyond.

Pupil Exclusions

Rachael Maskell: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps she is taking to reduce off-rolling in schools.

Damian Hinds: The government is clear that off-rolling (the practice of removing a pupil from the school roll without using a permanent exclusion, when the removal is primarily in the best interests of the school, rather than the best interests of the pupil) is unacceptable in any form and the department continues to work with Ofsted to tackle it.Ofsted already considers records of children taken off-roll and their characteristics and have strengthened the focus on this in the revised inspection framework since September 2019. Where inspectors find off-rolling, this will always be addressed in the inspection report and, where appropriate, could lead to a school’s leadership being judged as inadequate. A pupil’s name can lawfully be deleted from the admission register on the grounds prescribed in regulation 8 of the Education (Pupil Registration) (England) Regulations 2006 as amended. All schools must notify the local authority when a pupil’s name is to be deleted from the admission register under any of the grounds prescribed in regulation 8 as soon as the ground for removal is met and no later than the time at which the pupil’s name is removed from the register. This requirement is intended to act as a safeguard to ensure children do not go missing from education.

Ministry of Defence

RAF Akrotiri

Kenny MacAskill: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, pursuant to the Answer of 5 December 2023 to Question 3983 on RAF Akrotiri, if he will list the branches of the military that personnel on the flights in question belonged.

James Heappey: These flights carried a mix of personnel from across the Armed Forces to enable the assisted departure of British Nationals from Israel, the continued movement of materials required to sustain our diplomatic mission to Tel Aviv; and the transportation of Ministers and senior officials conducting diplomatic engagements with Israeli interlocutors. We will not comment on individual movements.

Kevin McCool

Kenny MacAskill: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, pursuant to the Answer of 8 December 2023 to Question 5097 on Kevin McCool, what Major Kevin McCool's role was at the British High Commission in Nairobi.

James Heappey: Major Kevin McCool was posted to the British High Commission as a regional military advisor.

Ministry of Defence: Recruitment

Jonathan Ashworth: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, how much his Department spent on external recruitment consultants in the (a) 2020-21, (b) 2021-22 and (c) 2022-23 financial year.

James Cartlidge: The information requested is not currently held centrally by the Department. Although examples will exist for specific roles, the Department does not, in general, make use of external recruitment consultants to fill fulltime roles.

Ministry of Defence: Hunting

Mr Kevan Jones: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, how many licenses his Department has issued to allow trail hunts on the Defence estate in the 2023-24 hunting season; and how many hunts these licenses relate to.

Mr Kevan Jones: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, whether his Department has sought legal advice on the legality of trail hunting on the Defence estate; and whether he has made an assessment of the potential risk of illegal hunting activity taking place on the Defence estate.

James Cartlidge: To date Ministry of Defence (MOD) has issued 23 licences for the 2023- 24 trail hunting season. Name of HuntFixtures taken place Licence 18Licence 22Licence 31Licence 41Licence 52Licence 61Licence 79Licence 810Licence 93Licence 102Licence 112Licence 123Licence 133Licence 142Licence 152Licence 163Licence 171Licences 18-230 – Have not held any fixtures No legal advice has been sought on the legality or potential risk of illegal activity due to the issue of trail hunting licenses. The MOD only issues licenses for drag and trail hunting, which are exempt activities under the Hunting Act 2004.

Defence: Employment

Maria Eagle: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, pursuant to the Answer of 20 November 2023 to Question 1812 on Defence: Employment, what the Defence and Security needs that he has identified are.

James Cartlidge: In the 2023 Defence Command Paper Refresh, the Government committed to addressing our most critical skills shortfalls, particularly in digital and Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics. We will upskill our own people in these areas, and in nuclear, space, and cyber, and work more closely with industry and academia to ensure we are growing those skills nationally. The Academic Interface Workstream, which reports to the Defence Suppliers Forum People & Skills Steering Group, is enabling the Defence Enterprise to acquire the right skills, right place, right time through an integrated (common voice) and collaborative (collective action) approach between Policy Makers, Education Providers, Student Bodies, Professional Bodies and Hiring Organisations. In partnership with the Institution of Engineering & Technology, the Working Group is gaining a clear view of skills data and identify gaps and needs, to act as an honest broker and compile a demand signal.

Ministry of Defence: Artificial Intelligence

Maria Eagle: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, how many members of staff work for the Defence AI Centre as of 11 December 2023.

Maria Eagle: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, pursuant to the Answer of 16 November 2023 to Question 1447 on Ministry of Defence: Artificial Intelligence, what the annual budget for the Defence AI Centre was in the (a) 2022-23 and (b) 2023-24 financial year.

Maria Eagle: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, pursuant to the Answer of 16 November 2023 to Question 1447 on Ministry of Defence: Artificial Intelligence, whether he plans to expand (a) the Defence AI Centre and (b) its (i) monitoring capabilities and (ii) scope in the context of trends in the level of adoption of AI in his Department.

James Cartlidge: The DAIC currently has a core team of 39 Full Time Equivalent crown servants drawn from across Defence, with plans to grow the Strategic Command element of the team by a further 22 Full Time Equivalent crown servants. Departmental spend on AI is difficult to calculate, as cost data is typically integrated within broader programme costs.

Ministry of Defence: Consultants and Temporary Employment

John Healey: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what estimate his Department has made of the projected cost of (a) consultancy services and (b) temporary staff for (i) his Department, (ii) its executive agencies and (iii) its other arm's-length bodies for financial year 2023-24.

James Cartlidge: The following table provides a summary of the overall expenditure forecast by the Department for financial year 2023-24 for consultancy services and temporary staff (sometimes also referred to as contingent labour): Financial YearConsultancy ServicesTemporary Staff2023-24£94.588 million£321.793 million Note: The above summary includes the Department and the following Executive Agencies;- Defence Equipment and Support- Submarine Delivery Agency- Defence Science and Technology Laboratory There is 1 Executive agency for which data is not available;- UK Hydrographic Office Other ALB data is included within the above dataset but is not available separately. ALB’s consist of a small proportion of the above figures (less than 5%).

Syria: Armed Forces

John Healey: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, with reference to the oral answer to the hon. Member for Wentworth and Dearne of 5 December 2023, Official Report, column 212, how many troops are in Syria.

James Heappey: The UK as part of the counter-Daesh Global Coalition has troops deployed across the Middle East to support this mission. As the Secretary of State of Defence stated on 5 December, we cannot go into operational specifics.

Military Aid

John Healey: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, with reference to the oral answer of the Foreign Secretary of 5 December on Ukraine: Humanitarian and Economic Support, House of Lords, Official Report, column 1374, when he plans to publish military aid funding for the 2024-2025 financial year.

James Heappey: The UK Government is committed in its support for Ukraine. Discussions on military aid funding for financial year 2024-25 continue, and an announcement will be made in due course.

Afghanistan: Refugees

John Healey: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, pursuant to the Answer of 5 December 2023 to Question 4616 on Afghanistan: Peacekeeping Operations, whether he plans to re-evaluate unsuccessful applications for the Afghan Relocations and Assistance Policy from members of (a) Commando Force 333 and (b) Afghanistan Territorial Force 444.

James Heappey: As set out in policy published on gov.uk, should an applicant to the Afghan Relocations and Assistance Policy scheme be found ineligible, they are entitled to request a review of that decision.Each applicant has a 90-day window to submit a review request, and should do so if they believe the eligibility decision was not made in accordance with published policy, or they can supply new evidence that was not available when the original decision was madeThis provision is open to all ARAP applicants, including former members of the Afghan Territorial Force 444 and Commando Force 333.